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MATIAS DELACROIX

Central America photojournalist

Delacroix is a Chilean-raised photojournalist currently based in Panama. With a focus on migration, social unrest, and humanitarian crises, he has covered key events across Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.
A person stands in an apartment of a damaged building two days after an earthquake struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
AP photographer captures the aftermath of two earthquakes in Venezuela
As Matias Delacroix walked through the debris, a single illuminated room inside a heavily damaged apartment building stood out against the darkness.
 
Gabriela Alves pets her dog, which she found alive a week after the earthquakes, at a McDonald’s restaurant being used as a temporary health center and pet reunification center in La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Venezuelan earthquake survivors search for missing pets in an unexpected place: McDonald’s
A McDonald’s restaurant in Venezuela has become a makeshift hospital and center for finding missing pets after two powerful earthquakes.
 
Rescue workers carry a man rescued from the rubble of a building that collapsed in the earthquakes that struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
From the rubble in Venezuela, an unexpected story of survival cuts through days of tragedy
In the days since two devastating earthquakes, search teams and locals had believed that there were no signs of life under a mountain of concrete in La Guaira, one of the areas that’s been hardest hit in Venezuela.
 
Children train at the C-Stars United soccer academy in Willemstad, Curacao, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Photos of tiny Curacao making World Cup soccer history
Tiny Curacao is headed to the World Cup, making history as the smallest territory by population and land mass to qualify.
 
A man pans for gold in a pond next to a mill where rock and sediment are crushed and processed to extract gold in El Callao, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Photos show miners in El Callao, Venezuela, where gold has become an important source of income
EL CALLAO, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, but the collapse of the oil industry has turned gold into an important source of income.
 
A boy stands on a fishing boat with the Cardon refinery in the background in Punta Cardon, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Photos show daily life along Venezuela’s oil coast after Maduro’s capture
PARAGUANA PENINSULA, Venezuela (AP) — Less than two weeks after a U.S. military operation captured former President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and as his successor, acting President Delcy Rodriguez, announced plans to reform Venezuela’s energy sector, the country’s largest oil refining hub dominat
 
Pro-government armed civilians stop motorcyclists in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A week in photos from Venezuela after U.S. strike removed its president
Venezuelans navigated a tense week after U.S. forces captured former President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
 
Relatives and friends of political prisoners hold candles calling for their loved ones to be set free outside the Rodeo I prison in Guatire, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026 after the government announced prisoners would be released. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Photos show relatives waiting outside prisons as Venezuela frees a handful of detainees
GUATIRE, Venezuela (AP) — Relatives of jailed opposition figures, activists and journalists waited outside Venezuelan prisons as the government began releasing a small number of detainees nearly a week after former President Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces.
 
Pro-government armed civilians patrol in La Guaira, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
One Extraordinary Photo: A woman with a gun on a motorcycle brings echoes from the past
In the aftermath of U.S. strikes that ended with the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, groups of pro-government civilians took to the streets, some armed. The scene reflected the shock and uncertainty that followed the attack, and photographing it felt essential.
 
A relative of a political prisoner waits outside the Rodeo I prison in Guatire, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, after National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said the government would release Venezuelan and foreign prisoners. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Venezuela releases imprisoned opposition figures and activists, which Trump says US requested
Venezuela has released a number of imprisoned high-profile opposition figures, activists and journalists — both citizens and foreigners — nearly a week after former President Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces to face drug-trafficking charges.
 
A military officer comforts Ramona Palma, the mother of Venezuelan soldier Cesar Garcia, who was killed in a U.S. raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, after Garcia's wake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Photos show a military funeral for Venezuelan soldiers killed during US operation
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s military held a funeral Wednesday for some of the soldiers killed during the U.S. operation that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.
 
Pedestrians run after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
How a woman running from US bombs in Venezuela captured the night’s fear and chaos
A photo of 21-year-old Mariana Camargo dashing through the streets of eastern Caracas as explosions boomed in the background was soon on front pages of major international outlets.
 
Revelers take part in the Afro-Venezuelan Holy Innocents' Day celebration in Caucagua, Venezuela, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Photos show Venezuelans celebrating Holy Innocents’ Day
CAUCAGUA, Venezuela (AP) — Hundreds of people in northern Venezuela took to the streets for the annual Bandos and Parrandas of the Holy Innocents of Caucagua, a celebration rooted in Afro-descendant cacao-growing communities.
 
Christmas dinner is served at the home of Abraham Castro's parents in Maracay, Venezuela, early Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. Castro and his partner Mariela Gómez, a Venezuelan migrant couple who abandoned their journey to the United States following thPresident Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, are spending the holiday there after returning home. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Photos show Venezuelan migrants spending Christmas at home after abandoning hope of reaching the US
MARACAY, Venezuela (AP) — After months on the move through jungles, seas and borders, Venezuelan migrants Mariela Gómez, her partner Abraham Castro and her two children, abandoned their attempt to reach the United States.
 
Mariela Gómez, right, and her partner Abraham Castro, a Venezuelan migrant couple, sit for Christmas dinner at Castro's parents' home in Maracay, Venezuela, early Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. The couple abandoned their journey to the United States and returned home from Mexico by land and sea following President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A Venezuelan family’s Christmas: From the American dream to poverty
Mariela Gómez and thousands of Venezuelan immigrants have faced a challenging Christmas after Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.
 
Gabriela Villanueva, third from left, and her husband Juan Guedez, right, sit with her in-laws outside their home in Araure, Venezuela, June 11, 2025. The couple traveled by land from Chile to Mexico, crossing the Darien Gap in an attempt to reach the U.S., but returned home after the Trump administration closed the border to asylum seekers. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
PHOTO ESSAY: Photos of Venezuelan migrants who returned home following US immigration crackdown
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — More than a decade after Venezuela’s economic collapse sent millions to flee abroad, U.S.
 
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Japan fans cheer prior to a FIFA U-20 World Cup Group A soccer match against Chile at National Stadium in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Japanese fans leave a lasting impression at the Under-20 World Cup in Chile
Chile will feel a little quieter now that Japan is out of the men’s Under-20 World Cup. With drums, banners, flags, and signs, the Japanese fans stole the show with their heartfelt support as their team advanced to the round of 16 following a perfect group-stage campaign.
 
Venezuelan Mariela Gomez holds her son Mathias as they boat to shore after arriving on a larger cargo vessel in Jaque, on Panama's Pacific coast, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, during their journey south after giving up on reaching the United States. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
PHOTO ESSAY: Venezuelan migrants use dangerous routes in a wave of ‘reverse migration’
JAQUE, Panama (AP) — Venezuelan migrant Mariela Gómez is one of the thousands retracing their steps in a wave of “reverse migration.”
 
Venezuelan migrants depart Jaque on Panama's Pacific coast en route to Jurado, Colombia, as they return home after failing to enter the United States, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Venezuelans in ‘reverse migration’ pushed to new perils in effort to return home
Venezuelan migrants are attempting a “reverse migration” back to South America after facing challenges in the U.S.
 
Ruins of the old bell tower in "Panama Viejo," or Old Panama, the first permanent Spanish settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas, is backdropped by the modern skyline of Panama City, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
PHOTO ESSAY: Tracing pre-canal Panama’s forgotten crossings and colonial routes
PANAMA CITY (AP) — For centuries, Panama served as a natural bridge for global trade. Mule trains hauled treasure over stone-paved trails, riverboats floated gold and silver down the Chagres River to Caribbean ports like Portobelo, guarded by the cannons of Fort San Lorenzo, and later, the world’s f
 
Yosbelin Perez, who returned to Venezuela from Mexico with her husband and five children after abandoning plans to reach the United States amid President Donald Trump's migration crackdown, covers molds with molten aluminum to make griddles, in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
PHOTO ESSAY: Venezuelan family finds life harder after returning home
MARACAIBO, Venezuela (AP) — The hands of Yosbelin Pérez have made tens of thousands of the aluminum round gridles that Venezuelan families heat every day to cook arepas.
 
An anti-government protester hurls back a tear gas canister during clashes with police at the Indigenous Embera community of Arimae, Panama, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
AP PHOTOS: Panama protests have lasted 45 days and counting
ARIMAE, Panama (AP) — Protests have persisted in parts of Panama for a month and a half. They’ve covered a range of issues including the changes to social security and opposition to a security agreement giving U.S. soldiers and contractors access to some facilities in Panama.
 
Men carry a fellow demonstrator injured during clashes with police at a protest against recent actions by President Jose Raul Mulino, including a pension reform law and a security agreement with the United States involving the Panama Canal, in Arimae, Panama, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Protesters and police clash in eastern Panama
Authorities and protesters have been injured in eastern Panama where border police tried to open a highway blocked in an Indigenous community as part of monthlong demonstrations against changes to the country’s social security system.
 
A boy watches buses during a Red Devils tuning exhibition in La Chorrera, Panama, Sunday, June 30, 2024. The Red Devils are repurposed U.S. school buses once used in the Panama Canal Zone and later as public transport, now adapted for private and cultural use. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
AP PHOTOS: Former US school buses get a second life in Panama
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Demonstrators travel by river to the mouth of the Rio Indio on Panama's Caribbean coast to protest a planned reservoir for the Panama Cana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Photos: Protests in Panama enter third week, challenging President Mulino
PANAMA CITY (AP) — Protests in Panama have entered their third week, challenging several recent actions by President José Raúl Mulino.
 
Park rangers unload a container in Punta Patino, Panama, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Few migrants remain in the Darien Gap, but an environmental crisis has been left behind
The Darien Gap was once largely untouched jungle running along the Colombia-Panama border, and thousands of Comarca Embera Indigenous people long lived off the land and winding rivers.
 
Revelers take part in the Devils and Congos Festival in Portobelo, Panama, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Panama town reckons with dark history of colonialism in Festival of Devils and Congos
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Lifejackets hang at the home of a local in Villa Caleta, Panama, Monday, April 7, 2025. The jackets were once used to ferry migrants after their trek across the Darien Gap on their way north to the U.S. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Photos: The people who have lost their businesses as migration in the Darien Gap dries up
VILLA CALETA, Panama (AP) — The Trump administration’s crackdown on migration has ended the massive flow of people heading north through a treacherous jungle on the Colombia-Panama border called the Darien Gap.
 
Lifejackets hang at the home of a local in Villa Caleta, Panama, Monday, April 7, 2025. The jackets were once used to ferry migrants after their trek across the Darien Gap on their way north to the U.S. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A jungle route once carried hundreds of thousands of migrants. Now the local economy has crashed
The Trump administration’s crackdown on migration has ended the massive flow of people heading north through a treacherous jungle on the Colombia-Panama border called the Darien Gap.
 
A stray dog walks in an empty migrant reception center that used to receive hundreds of people every day after they crossed the Darien Gap on their journey north to the United States, in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Once a migratory highway, the Darien Gap has been left empty under Trump crackdown
A little more than a year ago, the small Panamanian river port of Lajas Blancas was filled with a crush of people trying to make their way to the United States.
 
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