04/09/2020 - QUEZALTEPEQUE, SALVADOR - Members of the MS-13 and 18 gangs remain in an overcrowded cell at the Quezaltepeque prison. Authorities from the General Directorate of Penal Centres (DGCP) visited three Salvadorean prisons, some of maximum security, to check the situation of inmates and carry out searches amid the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic. © Yuri CORTEZ / AFP

Originally from El Salvador, Yuri Cortez is AFP's chief photographer in Caracas, Venezuela. He has covered wars, coups, natural disasters and humanitarian crises around the world in his three-decade career. His work has been featured several times in international exhibitions such as SportFoto in 2018 tracing his misadventures during the Football World Cup in Russia, buried under Croatian players celebrating a goal against England, or for the AFP project on life on the US-Mexico border.

Istanbul Photo Awards is an international news photography contest organized by Anadolu Agency. "The contest aims to contribute to the sphere of news photography and offers a perspective shaped by the region’s unique position at the center of diverse cultures. The awards reward endeavors of courageous and talented photojournalists from around the world on merit."

Istanbul Photo Awards