April • 2019
Marcos was great, he delivered our request as per requirements and was thorough and pleasant to deal with. Thanks!
Marcos A.
Nicosia, Cyprus
2 reviews$200 - $600 / Day
About
Photojournalist covering news and features in Cyprus, Greece and the Middle East. Work published in The Guardian, Time, Newsweek, Wall Street Journal, Vice, AJ+ and others.
Top Services
- News Shooter / Video Journalist
- 2 reviews
- Video Editor - News
- Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
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Cyprus activists: Flamingos at risk at lead-lined salt lake
The Larnaca salt lake network welcomes as many as 15,000 or more flamingos through the winter. The flamingo is one of the most common species of winter bird in Cyprus, as they migrate from colder climates, arriving with the first rains. Birdlife Cyprus director Martin Hellicar says flamingos are vulnerable to ingesting tiny lead shotgun pellets lying on the lakebed as they feed. Just like other birds, flamingos swallow small pebbles during feeding to help with digestion, but can't distinguish between pebbles and pellets. "In Cyprus, we have determined the most important areas for flamingos - like the Larnaca salt lake," says Hellicar. "The (safety) gaps that exist, and the threats for the flamingo and other species, has to do with (wetland) management." Cyprus Wildlife figures show that in the first two months of last year, 96 flamingos found dead at Larnaca salt lake network died as a result of lead poisoning after ingesting the pellets. "The source appears to be (shotgun) pellets from hunting. It's the only area in the Larnaca salt lake network where hunting is permitted, not inside, but near the lake," says Hellicar. Cyprus Veterinary Services official Panayiotis Constantinou, who has conducted autopsies on dead flamingos, says the birds died after absorbing lead from the tiny pellets lying at the bottom of the salt lake. "These pellets were found during an autopsy of dead flamingos in the lab," he explains. Hunting is banned around most of the salt lake, but hunters still search for game around the lake network's southern tip where the sport is permitted. A sport shooting range near the northern tip of the lake network was closed nearly 18 years ago and authorities proceeded with a clean-up of the lakebed in that area to remove pellets. But Hellicar says the clean-up was apparently incomplete and that a European Union-funded study is currently underway to identify which areas contain significant amounts of pellets in order to again sweep them clean. He says that preliminary results of that study show that lead levels in the lake network's southern tip are "very high" most probably due to lead shotgun pellets used by hunters. According to Hellicar, the problem is compounded by poaching in the area, where many types of birds are shot, apart from those that authorities have designated as legitimate game. "As a conservation group, we believe that if a definitive solution on illegal hunting in the area isn't found - and because there is this serious problem with pollution there - we want this area to be closed off permanently," he says. But Cyprus Hunting Federation official Alexandros Loizides claims hunting in a 200-meter swath near the lake network's southern tip isn't the real problem, since only about a half-dozen hunters go in search of duck there. He says he's unaware of any flamingo deaths in the area and faults pesticide and fertilizer runoff from nearby farmers for creating the pollution problem there. "It's a 200-metre swath of land where hunting is permitted under the European Union's wetlands rules, where five or six hunters every day can hunt for ducks," he says. "We haven't had any incidents of dead flamingos appearing in that specific area. There are ways to clean up the lead, we'll clean up what we have to."
- News Shooter / Video Journalist
- Video Editor - News
- Field Producer
Greece: Striking public sector workers rally against austerity cuts
Striking public sector workers, including prison workers and medical staff, rallied against wage and pension cuts in central Athens on Wednesday. The action was called by an umbrella group of Greek trade unions, Labour Institute of the Greek General Confederation of Greece (ADEDY).
- News Shooter / Video Journalist
- Video Editor - News
Ship carrying US and foreign nationals arrives in Cyprus from Israel
A cruise ship carrying some 160 US citizens and other foreign nationals, who opted to leave Israel, arrived in Cyprus’ main port of Limassol on Tuesday. Rhapsody of the Seas docked at the port at the break of dawn, bringing the first group of Americans that US authorities arranged to be evacuated from Israel. Passengers were processed by Cypriot authorities and local US embassy officials before being bussed to temporary accommodations prior to their flight back home. There were several families with small children among the passengers, which included Barbara Zwillick. She said she was escorting her granddaughter back to New York City at the behest of her daughter. Zwillick, 73, who has been living in Israel for the past decade, said she would have stayed in the country, but instead chose to heed her daughter’s plea to take her child to safety. Naama Kopelman said she decided to leave Israel for the sake of her daughter since they had no hardened shelter, or safe room, in their home that would protect them from gunfire and shelling. Kopelman, who lives in Giv’atayim said she has relatives – a husband and wife - who are thought to have been kidnapped by Hamas militants during their raid in southern Israel. "One of the people I work with was murdered in the party that was in the south," she added. US Ambassador to Cyprus Julie Fisher met the US citizens at the arrivals terminal. She told reporters of the “tremendous partnership” the embassy has with Cypriot authorities in facilitating evacuations. Fisher said she was "confident" about the "security situation" in Cyprus. AP video shot by Marcos Andronicou
- News Shooter / Video Journalist
- Video Editor - News
UK bases on Cyprus boost fight against traffickers
(7 Jul 2021) Authorities at a British military base on Cyprus have doubled the number of customs officers and procured thermal imaging cameras as part of stepped up efforts to thwart people trafficking from the breakaway north of the ethnically split island nation. Bases Customs and Immigration Chief Adam Chatfield told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the addition of 24 new officers and four SUVs - two of which carry state-of-the-art thermal cameras - enable Base authorities to carry out round-the-clock patrols along a 45 kilometer (28 mile) boundary with the north. Bases figures show a rising trend in migrant arrivals over the last three years. In 2018, Bases authorities located 17 migrants trying to cross in six instances. That jumped to 33 migrants in 16 crossing attempts a year later while last year, 67 migrants were intercepted in nine attempted crossings. Cyprus was cleaved along ethnic lines in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup aimed at union with Greece. Turkish Cypriots in the northern part declared independence nearly a decade later, but only Turkey recognizes it and maintains more than 35,000 troops there. A buffer zone controlled by a United Nations peacekeeping force separates the north from the Greek Cypriot south where the island's internationally recognized government is seated. Although Cyprus is a European Union member, only the southern part enjoys full benefits. Dhekelia Garrison, one of two military bases that the U.K. retained after Cyprus gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960, directly abuts the north along a corridor of farmland. Abandoned homes and empty fields offer many secluded routes for smugglers to bring their goods or for migrants to cross. Chatfield said migrants are usually intercepted crossing in groups of about 10 to 20 at an average rate of once a month. The overwhelming majority now crossing are Syrian males seeking asylum in the south. Stopping these traffickers is "a key priority," he added. "People are paying a lot of money to be trafficked into Cyprus and there's a complete disregard to their safety." According to the Cypriot government, 3,896 Syrians have reached Cyprus from Turkey in the last two years, usually flying into the north before crossing southward.
- News Shooter / Video Journalist
- Video Editor - News
Ex-FM Christoulides wins Cyprus presidential election
Former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides was elected as the new president of Cyprus in a runoff election Sunday. His rival, veteran diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis, conceded defeat. With 100% of ballots counted, Christodoulides had 51.9% of the vote to Mayroyiannis' 48.1%, according to official election results. Christodoulides, 49, campaigned as a unifying force for ethnically divided Cyprus, eschewing ideological and party divisions. His message resonated with a wide swath of voters. Mavroyiannis, who had served as Cyprus’ ambassador to the United Nations, positioned himself as the agent of change, ushering in a new political era following a decade of rule by outgoing President Nicos Anastasiades. But the support he received from the communist-rooted AKEL party may have pushed swing voters into backing Christodoulides. Christoulides inherits the challenge of trying to revive stalemated peace talks with the country's Turkish Cypriots, who declared independence nearly a decade after a 1974 Turkish invasion that followed a coup aimed at union with Greece. The island's reunification has eluded politicians during over nearly a half-century of negotiations, despite progress on the shape of an overall peace deal. A potential resolution became more complicated following the 2017 collapse of talks at a Swiss resort that many believed had come tantalizingly close to producing a breakthrough. Turkey, the only country to recognize the minority Turkish Cypriots’ independence, has since turned its back on a United Nations-backed arrangement for a federated Cyprus. It advocates instead a two-state deal, which the U.N., the European Union, the U.S. and other countries have rejected. AP video shot by: Marcos Andronicou
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- Video Editor - News
Well-off Lebanese find new home in Cyprus
Many well-off Lebanese who escaped their country's economic tailspin for a new life in the nearby island nation of Cyprus say the transition has been a whirlwind of emotions. They are grateful they did not have to turn to human smugglers and embark on risky Mediterranean crossings to reach European shores. But they also feel guilty for leaving family and friends behind to struggle with Lebanon's unprecedented crises — a failing economy, political uncertainty and social upheaval. The feelings are intense for Celine Elbacha, an architect who moved with her family of four to the Mediterranean island nation in August 2020, and Nadine Kalache Maalouf, who arrived with her husband and two children four months ago. They are among more than 12,000 Lebanese who have left their homeland in the past two years for Cyprus — less than a 50-minute flight from Beirut — enrolling their kids in schools, setting up businesses and snapping up apartments on the island. "We were fortunate to be able to come," Maalouf said. "We're doing our best here as a Lebanese community to help our families, our friends back home. So it's not like we just moved and we turned our backs and we're not looking back," she added. Thousands of Lebanese, including teachers, doctors and nurses have left the country amid a devastating economic crisis that has thrown two thirds of the country's population into poverty since October 2019. That brain drain accelerated after the massive explosion at Beirut's port last year, when a stockpile of improperly stored ammonium nitrates detonated, killing at least 216 people and destroying several residential areas. The exodus is telling about the state of Lebanon, where not only the poor are seeking a way out, but also a relatively well-off middle class that has lost faith in the country turning itself around. For those who can afford it, Cyprus, a member of the European Union, is an attractive option for its proximity and the facilities it offers — including residency for a certain level of investment in real estate and businesses. As Lebanese banks clamped down on deposits, many sought to open bank accounts in Cyprus or buy apartments as a way to free up their money. The island has a history of taking in Lebanese, who first came in the 1980s, at the height of Lebanon's 15-year-civil war, and again in 2006, when Cyprus served as a base for evacuating civilians during the monthlong war between Israel and Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group. Maalouf, 43, who made the move to Cyprus with her husband and two kids, said she was pleasantly surprised by how "easy" the relocation process was. She hasn't found work yet but has connected with Cyprus' close-knit Lebanese community. Cyprus' Interior Ministry spokesman, Loizos Michael, confirmed to The Associated Press that the government has "simplified procedures" for Lebanese nationals who wish to immigrate lawfully, "as part of humanitarian assistance" to Lebanon. Additionally, incentives are offered to Lebanese businessmen who wish to transfer their businesses to Cyprus, Michael said, without elaborating. Maalouf said her primary motivation was to shield her children from Lebanon's dire economic situation — runaway inflation has seen the Lebanese pound lose more than 90% of its value in less than two years — and provide them with a chance for a better future.
- News Shooter / Video Journalist
- Video Editor - News
Equipment
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- Full HD video camera
- DSLR or equivalent
- 4K video camera
- Drone
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Audio
- Shotgun mic
- External recorder
- Wireless lavalier mic
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- Stabilizer
- Lighting kit
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- Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
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