When protests broke out near the Ngäbe-Buglé semi-autonomous region in 2012, American missionary priest Joe Fitzgerald was forced to assume a role that indigenous people could not.
In deeply Catholic Nicaragua and El Salvador, where abortion is seen as murder, activists struggle to make the case for therapeutic termination in cases of rape or to save the life of the mother.
While the government makes superficial strides towards gender equality, women in Nicaragua are suffering from physical, sexual and emotional abuse at alarming rates.
Government officials say the construction of a hydroelectric dam in western Panama is necessary to address a national electricity emergency, but local residents say they won’t benefit.
In Guatemala, children learn that cleanliness is next to good nutrition in their healthy development. Eeeewwwww, worms.
Women and girls in Nicaragua are being denied abortions, even in cases of rape. As more and more children become mothers, activists ask the government to reconsider these strict laws.
Panamanian villagers question the true cost of development in the construction of a major dam on indigenous land.
Cooking classes are vital in reducing maternal and child malnutrition in Guatemala. Mothers-to-be learn about adding value to cream of potato soup.
Members of Panama’s largest indigenous group, the Ngäbe-Buglé, block the country’s main roadway to protest mining and hydroelectric projects.
The effort to decriminalize the anti-sodomy law in Belize faces organized resistance from religious groups.
The Garifuna population in Honduras has an HIV rate five times higher than the national rate.
In Guatemala, gun violence is daily life: 24,021 people were murdered between 2008 and 2012. Pulitzer Center grantee Carlos Javier Ortiz's images offer a glimpse behind the grim statistics.
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