AP Year in Pictures: A vibrant Latin America and Caribbean

The best images taken in 2022 by Associated Press photographers in Latin America and the Caribbean revealed the reality of migration, poverty and violence, but they also showcased the region's intense, vibrant and colorful daily life.

Latin American countries faced growing inequality as a result of the post-pandemic global economic crisis, aggravated by the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Weather took its toll, with heavy rains overflowing rivers and unleashing mudslides that buried lives and homes in Venezuela and Ecuador.

There was no respite from violence in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, where poor residents are often caught in fighting between criminals and police. In Haiti, protests are a near-daily occurrence amid a never-ending political crisis and a growing terror from fighting among rival gangs. In El Salvador, the government cracked down while seeking to control street gangs.