During the Cold War, six South American dictatorships formed Operation Condor, a secret military plot for coordinated repression. It’s estimated that tens of thousands of people were killed. Photographer Joao Pina examines this dark period with his recent photo series “Shadow of the Condor.”

Photojournalist Lianne Milton recently witnessed the swift demolition of homes in one of Rio de Janeiro's favelas. Largo do Tanque is one of many neighborhoods being torn down to build a highway ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Spanish photographer Juan Manuel Castro Prieto has visited Peru 15 times since his first trip in 1990. His most recent project focuses on shamanism, which centers on the belief that nature – also called Pachamama, or Mother Earth – lives in every man.

Photographer Jordi Ruiz Cirera first visited Bolivia in 2011 after hearing about a religious community occupying the province of Santa Cruz. Mennonites, whose families fled Germany around the 16th century, separate themselves from other locals to preserve their ancestral lifestyle.

Mining in Bolivia is a “devil’s bargain,” Theo Stroomer says. It's a “resource curse” where a country rich in assets fails to prosper from those resources. The American photographer spent about six months in Bolivia, a country where some places have been mined for nearly 500 years.