June 14-20, 2024
Indigenous women in Ecuador take on soccer by inventing a sport: handball in traditional skirts.
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Body bags that contain the remains of people who died in a landslide caused by heavy rains, are gathered in a parking lot in El Placer, Ecuador, Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Margarita Salazar wipes sweat off her brow inside her home amid high heat in Veracruz, Mexico, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
A masked protester shouts to his colleagues as they block a street with burning tires as part of the national strike by the construction union, in Panama City, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
An inmate playing the goalkeeper position celebrates his team's goal during a soccer match as part of an intramural tournament at the Sarita Colonia prison in Callao, Peru, June 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Cranes load and unload containers from cargo ships at Rodman Port, after Panama Canal authorities reported they will increase vessel transits through the interoceanic waterway following drought-related restrictions, in Panama City, June 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Faithful pray while attending a Mass recognizing the efforts of soup kitchen volunteers and priests who serve low-income neighborhoods amid the government's restrictions on distribution of subsidized food to soup kitchens, at the Virgin of Caacupé sanctuary in La Matanza, Argentina, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Police inspect the crash site where a freight train collided head-on with another train on a test run, in San Bernardo, on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Abortion rights activists march against an anti-abortion congressional bill, along Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, June 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)
An Indian supporter cheers for his team ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup cricket match between Afghanistan and India, at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
Sissa de la Cruz, left, and Sisa Guandinango, fight for the ball during a handball match in the Indigenous community of Turucu, Ecuador, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Sao Paulo as protests sweep across Brazil in opposition to a bill that would further criminalize abortions. If passed, the law would equate the termination of a pregnancy after 22 weeks with homicide.
Panama Canal authorities reported they will increase vessel transits through the interoceanic waterway following drought-related restrictions.
Tropical Storm Alberto formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, the first named storm of what is forecast to be a busy hurricane season.
This gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published in the past week by The Associated Press from Latin America and the Caribbean.
The selection was curated by AP photo editor Anita Baca, based in Mexico City.
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A bird flies over a deserted pier in Miramar, as Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the hurricane season, formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Fabian Melendez)
Body bags that contain the remains of people who died in a landslide caused by heavy rains, are gathered in a parking lot in El Placer, Ecuador, Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Margarita Salazar wipes sweat off her brow inside her home amid high heat in Veracruz, Mexico, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
A masked protester shouts to his colleagues as they block a street with burning tires as part of the national strike by the construction union, in Panama City, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
An inmate playing the goalkeeper position celebrates his team's goal during a soccer match as part of an intramural tournament at the Sarita Colonia prison in Callao, Peru, June 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Cranes load and unload containers from cargo ships at Rodman Port, after Panama Canal authorities reported they will increase vessel transits through the interoceanic waterway following drought-related restrictions, in Panama City, June 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Faithful pray while attending a Mass recognizing the efforts of soup kitchen volunteers and priests who serve low-income neighborhoods amid the government's restrictions on distribution of subsidized food to soup kitchens, at the Virgin of Caacupé sanctuary in La Matanza, Argentina, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Police inspect the crash site where a freight train collided head-on with another train on a test run, in San Bernardo, on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Abortion rights activists march against an anti-abortion congressional bill, along Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, June 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)
An Indian supporter cheers for his team ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup cricket match between Afghanistan and India, at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
Sissa de la Cruz, left, and Sisa Guandinango, fight for the ball during a handball match in the Indigenous community of Turucu, Ecuador, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders signed off on a trio of top appointments for their shared political institutions on Thursday, reinstalling German conservative Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission for another five years.
At the side of von der Leyen, who heads up the EU’s executive branch, would be two new faces: Antonio Costa of Portugal as European Council president and Estonia’s Kaja Kallas as the top diplomat of the world’s largest trading bloc.
“Satisfaction,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former European Council President. “For Poland and for Europe.”
Both von der Leyen and Kallas should now be approved by European lawmakers. Costa’s nomination only needed the leaders’ approval, and he will start in his new role in fall.
After the three centrist political families in the European Parliament struck a deal earlier this week, the top jobs package was widely expected to be approved at the two-day summit starting Thursday in Brussels.
But far-right politicians, emboldened by their strong showing in EU parliament elections earlier this month, slammed it as a stitch-up in the run-up to the meeting.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made clear her displeasure at being excluded from preparatory talks with a small group of leaders who divvied up the top jobs. Her nationalist European Conservatives and Reformists group emerged as the third force in the European Parliament elections this month.
Meloni voted against Portugal’s Costa and Estonia’s Kallas, two sources close to the discussions told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Meloni abstained on von der Leyen for European Commission president, the same sources confirmed. The two officials requested anonymity in line with EU practice.
In the end only one leader, nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, voted against the tripartite deal.
“European voters were cheated,” he said on Facebook Thursday evening. “We do not support this shameful agreement!” His objections were moot: the package only needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
The June 6-9 poll saw the EU’s legislature shift to the right and dealt major blows to mainstream governing parties in France and Germany, but the three mainstream groups managed to hold a narrow majority of seats.
Costa, a former Portuguese prime minister, hails from the center-left Socialists and Democrats group, which came second. Kallas is prime minister of her tiny Baltic home country. She comes from the pro-business liberal group, which is also home to embattled French President Emmanuel Macron and lost seats in the June poll, trailing into fourth place.
EU top appointments are supposed to ensure geographic and ideological balance, but ultimately it is the 27 leaders who call the shots - and generally the most powerful among them.
While Costa’s appointment is decided by EU leaders alone, both von der Leyen and Kallas will also need to be approved by a majority of lawmakers. With 720 members, the threshold is 361. That vote could happen when the newly constituted European Parliament meets for the first time in July.
The European Council is the body composed of the leaders of the 27 member states. If confirmed, Costa’s role as president would be to broker deals within an often hopelessly divided political club. In Portugal, he is known as a savvy negotiator.
As foreign affairs chief Kallas, whose country neighbors Russia and has taken a strong line on Moscow in its war with Ukraine, would see her represent the bloc on the world stage.
But von der Leyen’s role is the most powerful. As commission president, her job is to devise and implement the bloc’s shared policy on everything from migration to the economy and environmental rules.
With the far right pushing back against the flagship EU policies ushered through in the last five years, von der Leyen’s critics charge she is poised to roll back ambition.
European Council President Charles Michel, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrive for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
European Council President Charles Michel, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrive for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Council President Charles Michel, right, poses with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as they arrive for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Council President Charles Michel, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrive for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Council President Charles Michel, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak with the media during arrivals for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Council President Charles Michel, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak with the media during arrivals for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with the media as he arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Council President Charles Michel, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak with the media during arrivals for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks with the media as he arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
Bulgaria's Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
Pedestrians walk in front of a banner outside EU headquarters ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Union flags flap in the wind ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
