Top Latin America feature photos from 2016

While 2016 was a historic news year for Latin America and Caribbean, Associated Press photographers also dug beneath the surface to tell the human stories with feature images. The end of war in Colombia, anger in Mexico over Donald Trump's comments on migrants and the pain of Venezuela's economic crunch were all reflected in this year's photographs.

As Colombia celebrated the end of a 52-year conflict between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Juliana, a 20-year-old rebel fighter for FARC's 36th Front, rested after a trek in the northwest Andes of Colombia. Her path to the FARC was born as much from personal tragedy as political ideology. After being raped by her stepfather, she fled an impoverished home at age 16 and followed in the footsteps of an uncle.

At the Mexico-U.S. border, a demonstrator carried a mock coffin representing migrants who have died at a detention center in Eloy, Arizona, and Colombian musician Juanes and singer John Legend performed for a small crowd outside the facility.

In central Mexico, a man dressed a donkey to resemble Trump in preparation for the costume competition at the annual donkey festival, reflecting anger at the now U.S. president-elect's comments about Mexican migrants.

Venezuela's economic crisis and food shortages are often presented in statistics. But an AP image showed the plight of 16-year-old Madeley Vasquez, who breastfed her year-old son Joangel while waiting in line outside a supermarket to buy food in Caracas. Vasquez once ran down the block to avoid getting caught in a knife fight that broke out when a woman was accused of cutting the line.

In villages almost 5,000 meters (16,500 feet) above sea level in Peru's Puno region, temperatures dropped to minus-23 degrees Celsius (minus-9.4 Fahrenheit) during the winter, producing deep snow and killing thousands of alpacas and sheep, which are the only livelihood for the area's indigenous farmers and herders. An AP image showed Rosa Carcabusto, 29, and her daughter Maria Luque, 13, standing outside their house before preparing a soup of wheat and desiccated potatoes.

At a tourist camp in Mexico's Tlaxcala state, fireflies seeking mates put on a spectacular light show by flashing in synchronized bursts while photographers took long-exposure pictures.

And in Brazil's Pernambuco state, a collection of photos showed mothers and relatives posing with their babies who had been diagnosed with microcephaly linked to the Zika virus. AP photographer Felipe Dana has followed these babies from hospitals to their cribs, from brain exams to bath time since the outbreak began in Brazil, trying to show not only the difficulties but the mothers' pride for their children.

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In this Feb. 8, 2016 photo, "Careta" embraces a reveler during Carnival in Triunfo, Brazil. Residents in this small town say the Careta tradition began after two men were forbidden to take part in a folk celebration due to their drunken behavior. As retaliation, the pair roamed the streets wearing masks painted with sour expressions. Every Carnival since then, "Caretas" groups parade through Triunfo wearing their dour masks and cracking whips. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

In this Feb. 5, 2016 photo, Nadia Gonzalez protected by a mosquito net, recovers from a bout of dengue fever at a hospital in Luque, Paraguay. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this Feb. 7, 2016 photo, "Caboclo de Lanca," or lance-bearers, Nego Benvindo, left, and Jose Esteves, walk to town to take part in the Maracatu Carnival celebrations in Nazare da Mata, Brazil. The Afro-indigenous tradition is one of the oldest in the northeastern Pernambuco state. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In this March 8, 2016 photo, an Andean shepherd carries a young alpaca back to the herd after it strayed away within the Mallkini Hacienda alpaca farm, which breeds alpacas for their fiber, in the highlands of the Puno department of Peru. The 4 million alpacas that graze on the remote slopes of Peru's southeastern Andes wear warm coats of a silky fiber highly sought in the United States, Europe and Asia. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

In this March 16, 2016 photo, youths surf the Internet at a public Wi-Fi hotspot on the sidewalk in downtown in Havana, Cuba. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)

In this May 3, 2016 photo, 16-year-old Madeley Vasquez breastfeeds her one-year-old son Joangel as she waits in line outside a supermarket to buy food in Caracas, Venezuela. As Venezuela's lines grew longer and more dangerous, they became not only the stage for everyday life, but a backdrop to death. More than two dozen people have been killed in line in the past 12 months, including a 4-year-old girl caught in gang crossfire. Vasquez once ran down the block to avoid getting caught up in a knife fight that broke out when a woman was accused of cutting the line. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

In this May 1, 2016 photo, a man dresses a donkey to resemble Donald Trump in preparation for the costume competition at the annual donkey festival in Otumba, Mexico state, Mexico. The donkey was later adorned with a blond wig and eyebrows. None of the Trump entrants won much favor with the audience at the 51st annual donkey fest. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

In this May 3, 2016 photo, Mariano Arias pushes Joshep Sumer's wheelchair, accompanied by Sumer's wife Marie Claire, during a visit to the Aconcagua National park in Las Heras, Argentina. The Belgium couple came to the park to see the Aconcagua, marked as the highest peak in the American continent. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

In this Jan. 6, 2016 photo, Juliana, a 20-year-old rebel fighter for the 36th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, rests from a trek in the northwest Andes of Colombia, in Antioquia state. Like many of her comrades in arms, her path to the FARC was born as much from personal tragedy as political ideology. In her case, she fled an impoverished home at age 16 and followed in the footsteps of an uncle after being raped by her stepfather. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this June 3, 2016 photo, a teacher pushes her student in a wheelbarrow decorated as a plane, during a parade organized by the Valderrama school ahead of National Flag Day in the Villa el Salvador district of Lima, Peru. The South American country was gearing up for a tight June 5th runoff between Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori, and former World Bank economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who went to win. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this June 19, 2016 photo, a motorcycle rider carries his cat, Chiquinho, on his bike, near Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

In this July 9, 2016 photo, Rosa Carcabusto, 29, and her daughter Maria Luque, 13, stand outside their house before preparing a soup of wheat and dissected potatoes for dinner in San Antonio de Putina, in Puno's region, Peru. In the villages located almost 5000 meters above sea level, temperatures drop to -20 degrees during the winter season, producing snow and the death of thousands of alpacas and sheep, which are the only livelihood among indigenous peasants in the region of Puno, southeastern Peru. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this July 13, 2016 photo, Ben Blaque, a crossbow sharpshooter, stands still after firing a crossbow wearing a hood, that then triggered a series of pre-set crossbows culminating in an arrow piercing the apple above his head, during media event to promote the magic show, The Illusionists 1903, at the National Auditorium in Mexico City. The Illusionists 1903, evoke the "golden era" of magic shows. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

In this July 21, 2016 photo, fireflies seeking mates light up in synchronized bursts as photographers take long-exposure pictures, inside Piedra Canteada, a tourist camp cooperatively owned by 42 local families, inside an old-growth forest near the town of Nanacamilpa, Tlaxcala state, Mexico. The families purchased the 1560-acre (630-hectare) tract of land from a private owner in 1990 and began offering camping and forest visits, while continuing to exploit the logging quota authorized by the government. Only in 2011, did they realize the potential draw of the local firefly population, and begin advertising nighttime viewing tours. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

In this July 24, 2016 photo, pilgrims take a bath in a sacred mud pool during the annual Voodoo celebration in Plaine-du-Nord, Haiti. Offerings are made and thrown into the mud while young men in need retrieve them to sell at the market. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

In this July 30, 2016 photo, members of a dance troupe prepare to perform the national dance known as the Cueca at the Plaza de Armas, as part of a daily cultural heritage program organized by the mayor's office, in downtown of Santiago, Chile. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

In this July 29, 2016 photo, 5-year-old cowboy David Obregon runs across his yard at his parent's farm in Sancti Spiritus, central Cuba. In the Cuban countryside, many children learn to ride a horse before they learn to ride a bicycle. Those who grow up to be the best start farm-and ranch-related studies at local universities without passing the difficult national entrance exam. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

This Aug. 13, 2016 photo shows two portraits of Yiceth, one of her holding a weapon while in uniform for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and in civilian clothing at a guerrilla camp in the southern jungle of Putumayo, Colombia. Yiceth, 18, said she's spent four years with the FARC and wants to finish high school and go on to study nursing after demobilizing as part of a peace deal with Colombia's government. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

In this Sept. 28, 2016 photo, one-year-old Jose Wesley Campos, diagnosed with microcephaly linked to the Zika virus, cries during a physical therapy session at the AACD rehabilitation center in Recife, Brazil. Breathing problems make his cries sound like gargling, and his legs stiffen when he is picked up. A year after a spike in the number of newborns with the defect known as microcephaly, doctors and researchers have seen many of the babies develop swallowing difficulties, epileptic seizures and vision and hearing problems. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

In this combo of photos taken between Sept. 26 and Oct. 1, 2016, mothers and relatives pose with their babies, diagnosed with microcephaly linked to the Zika virus, in Pernambuco state, Brazil. Associated Press photographer Felipe Dana has followed these babies from hospitals to their cribs, from brain exams to bath time since the outbreak began in Brazil. After several interviews and assignments with the mothers, he wanted to capture the mothers' pride for their children, using instant film so they could immediately see and keep the photographs. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

In this Nov. 3, 2016 photo, the relative of a public hospital patient pushes water out of the emergency room after flooding was triggered by heavy rain in Cumana, the Venezuelan state of Sucre. Venezuelans have a saying: "Caracas is Caracas, and the rest is jungle and snakes." (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Oct. 14, 2016 photo, Mariela Flores, who is visually impaired, is crowned one of two Miss "Jacha Uru", translated from the Aymaran language as Great Day, in La Paz, Bolivia. The families of people with disabilities, with the help of the city government, organized a pageant to promote the rights of children and adolescents with impairments that ranged from physical to sensory to developmental. About 50 contestants demonstrated their skills in singing or dancing, and wrapped up the competition sporting their finest evening wear. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

In this Nov. 30, 2016 photo, pulque producer Antonio Gomez extracts the sugary liquid or "aguamiel," from the hollow section of a maguey plant, in Santiago Cuautlalpan, Mexico. Mexicans have been brewing pulque from the juice of the cactus-like plants for centuries, but the beverage fell out of favor starting in the 1970s as pulque got a reputation as a poor man's drink. But the nutrient-rich drink has made a comeback among a new generation of Mexicans. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

In this Nov. 8, 2016 photo, U.S. presidential Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and Republican nominee Donald Trump, are seen on a television screen in a Nicaraguan newscast surrounded by secondhand toys and puppets at the popular market in Managua, Nicaragua. Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States, marking the end of an unusually bitter presidential campaign. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

In this Friday, Nov. 4, 2016 photo, a boy swings in a park next to an election billboard promoting Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, in Managua, Nicaragua. Ortega was re-elected on Nov. 6, for his third consecutive term, this time accompanied by his wife as vice president. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

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