Ecology, politics, assassination, education, accident, migration and even the crisis in Ecuadorian prisons are on the list.
If 2020 was the year of the pandemic, 2021 has been the year of vaccination. Also the year of the restrictions and, more recently, the arrival of Ómicron, the new variant of the coronavirus, whose first cases have already been confirmed in Latin America.
But covid-19 was just one of the news events that starred the year in the region.
We review 2021 in Latin America through 15 images.
Reopening of schools after a year without attendance
In February, and with still much uncertainty, many schools reopened their classrooms in Latin America. In the image, at the Ramona Gil School in Chimaltenango, 60 km west of Guatemala City, a child with a mask and face shield attended the act of beginning of classes, February 22.
More than 137 million students in Latin America did not receive face-to-face education for an entire year, according to the Unicef report “Education on hiatus”, published in November 2020.
Latin American children and adolescents lost more than 170 days of learning, a figure four times higher than the global average of 40 days.
Everything we know about returning to face-to-face classes in Ecuador
Accident on Line 12 of the Mexico City metro
Juan Luis Díaz Galicia died in a train accident after an elevated subway line collapsed in the capital of Mexico.
The photograph shows some of his relatives at his funeral in Mexico City, on May 5, 2021.
26 people died and dozens were injured after the collapse of a section of elevated track of line 12 between the Olivos and Tezonco stations, in the southeast of the capital.
According to subsequent investigations, the cause was a “structural failure.”
Accident in the Mexico City metro leaves more than 20 dead and 65 hospitalized
National Strike: Colombia’s “social outbreak”
“Unlike previous protests in Colombia, the social outbreak that began at the end of March has had a strong anti-business character”Wrote our correspondent Daniel Pardo.
The protesters protested against inequality, the lack of opportunities in education and employment and the precariousness and informality of work.
The wave of protests led to strong clashes between protesters and police.
National unemployment in Colombia: Four facts to understand what is happening in the country
Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, assassinated at his residence
On Wednesday, July 7, a group of armed men stormed the private presidency of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, in Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital.
The 53-year-old president died after being shot several times. His wife, Martine, was injured in the attack and was taken to a hospital in Miami, in the United States.
Investigation of the assassination of the president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, is finding more suspects, but still nothing has been verified
The president’s widow told the newspaper The New York Times that the attackers reviewed her husband’s files while she lay bleeding on the ground. According to an investigation that the American newspaper published in December, in the months before his assassination, Moïse had taken a series of measures to fight against drug and arms traffickers.
The police detained ex-Colombian military men, whom they accused of committing the assassination.
Who was Jovenel Moise, the assassinated president of Haiti, who ruled by decree for more than a year
Historic marches against the government in Cuba
On July 11, Cuba experienced the largest protests in its recent history.
It was a wave of spontaneous outrage organized through social networks that drew the world’s attention as unusual on an island not used to demonstrations against power.
Thousands of people across the island took to the streets shouting “Freedom” and “down with the dictatorship” in a country where anti-government demonstrations are prohibited.
The song “Patria y vida” became an anthem for those who came out to protest against the government.
‘Patria y vida’, the “protest rap” that excites and unites Cubans inside and outside their country
Copa América 2021: Messi’s Argentina beats Brazil
It is an image of euphoria: the Argentine team celebrating their victory against Brazil in the final of the Copa América 2021, at the Maracana stadium, in Rio de Janeiro.
It was the first important title for the Albiceleste From 1993 and the first trophy with the senior team for Lionel Messi.
“I needed to get the thorn out of being able to achieve something with the National Team, I had been very close for many years. I knew that at some point it was going to go wrong, it was going to happen and I think there is no better moment than this, “Messi told the press after the game.
Argentina tips Brazil ‘Maracanazo’ and is Copa América champion after 28 years
Pedro Castillo is elected president of Peru
Pedro Castillo assumed the presidency of Peru on July 28 with a long and sober speech in which he promised social improvements and proposed a series of economic reforms.
“This Government has come to govern with the people and to build from below. It is the first time that our country will ruled by a peasant. (…) I too am the son of this country founded on the sweat of my ancestors, ”said the president.
Many anticipated that it will face strong resistance, after an election and a subsequent battle that showed the country’s division.
Pedro Castillo assumes the Presidency with the promise of interculturalizing Peru and reforming the Constitution
Shocking drought of the Paraná river in Argentina
It was the biggest drought in 77 years for the second longest river in South America, after the Amazon: the Paraná, in Argentina.
“The drought that affects the Paraná River, which has been at its lowest levels in nearly eight decades, it is having serious consequences in those nations, ”said the BBC Mundo correspondent in the Southern Cone, Veronica Smink.
“The river, which has an average flow of about 17,000 cubic meters per second, this year fell to 7,000 m3 / s, just above the historical minimum value of 5,800m3 / s, registered in 1944.”
River drought in Argentina reveals a ship sunk more than 100 years ago
Border agents on horseback chasing migrants in the United States
The White House called the scenes “terrible.”
The videos and images of several United States border agents on horseback chasing and charging migrants with an apparent cordon near the Rio Grande, in an area bordering the small municipality of Del Rio, in Texas, they generated controversy in the country.
The scenes took place in the midst of a new immigration crisis at the border, which led to up to 12,000 migrants – mostly Haitians – being held in a makeshift camp under a bridge that connects Del Río with Ciudad Acuña, in Mexico (la photo that heads the note).
In 2021 Mexico again faced a large arrival of migrants to its territory
25N: thousands of women against sexist violence in Mexico (and in the world)
On Thursday, November 25, women from all over the world took to the streets to march for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
The image was taken in Mexico, where thousands of women showed their outrage against femicides, disappearances and sexist violence.
Since 1990, murders of women in the country have increased every year without restraint, reaching a maximum of 3,957 homicides in 2020.
Sentences for femicides, even 40 years, are not enough if you do not invest in prevention and protection and rehabilitation systems, say activists
Prison crisis in Guayaquil, Ecuador
“In the Litoral prison, in the north of Guayaquil, time is measured in deaths,” wrote BBC Mundo journalist Matías Zibell from Ecuador.
BBC Mundo visited him days after the September 29 massacre and days before the November 12 massacre. Between one day and another, the confrontations in the penitentiary did not stop.
Prison crisis: ‘There is no information on those responsible for the murders,’ says Guillermo Lasso
Between both dates, President Guillermo Lasso decreed a prison state of exception (on September 29, after registering almost 120 deaths) and a state of national emergency (October 18).
The two days add up to almost 190 deaths. One of them was Jorge Leonardo González, whose sentence had ended long ago, his wife said.
Nelsa Curbelo: There are already dialogues with gang leaders to advance to the first objective, which is to stop the confrontations and deaths
Nicaragua: the expected fourth consecutive reelection of Ortega
This Sunday Ortega, who will turn 76 at the end of November, was elected president for the fifth time, the fourth in a row, in a context similar to that of five years ago.
According to the Nicaraguan Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), with more than 97% of the records scrutinized, the party of current president Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), obtained 75.92% support.
“Power is not at stake, there is no electoral competition,” political analyst Eliseo Núñez told BBC Mundo. “Ortega controls everything and in 2021 with an iron fist,” he stressed.
Daniel Ortega is re-elected for a fifth term, with his opposition rivals arrested
Guinness Record for “the largest orchestra in the world”, in Venezuela
With more than 12,000 musicians, the National System of Orchestras of Venezuela entered the Guinness Book of Records as the “largest orchestra in the world”.
The photograph was taken at the Military Academy of the Bolivarian Army at the Fort Tiuna Military Complex, in Caracas, on November 13.
Venezuela already accumulates other Guinness, including natural beauties such as Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, or the “Catatumbo Lightning”, the site with the highest number of electrical storms on the planet.
In Venezuela, a mega-concert with 12,000 musicians was held to break the Guinness Record for the largest orchestra in the world
Triumph of Gabriel Boric’s left in Chile
As soon as the results of the overwhelming victory of the leftist candidate Gabriel Boric in the Chilean presidential elections began to be known, his supporters took to the streets to celebrate.
Crowds packed the streets in the center of the capital, Santiago and other cities, after what was a historic day that hador the highest voter turnout since the 1993 presidential election.
With a difference of almost 12 percentage points, Boric beat his rival, the radical right lawyer José Antonio Kast, in the elections on Sunday, December 19.
3 milestones of Gabriel Boric’s electoral triumph in Chile (apart from his age)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
