Video still: “CANSEC is Global” promotional video shows military arm patch. “We’ve had the Ecuadorean minister on our booth.”
Video footage from the United States Southern Command retweeted by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth suggests that the Ecuadorian armed forces used an Airbus H225M helicopter purchased directly from the manufacturer in 2023 in the bombing of a farmhouse in the village of San Martin in northern Ecuador on March 6, 2026, that is now the subject of an Alliance for Human Rights complaint as “an attack on a civilian population” filed with the United Nations and Ecuadorean officials.
Though not a conclusive link to the 2023 contract, Airbus was an exhibitor at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa in 2022 and 2023, while an Ecuadorean military official was featured in a “CANSEC is Global” promotional video for CANSEC 2023 that additionally notes “the Ecuadorean minister” was present.
Community mobilizations against CANSEC have highlighted that human rights considerations are marginalized when 60+ international delegations and 300 corporate exhibitors are brought together at CANSEC.
PBI on observation mission in Ecuador
Deutsche Welle now reports that Peace Brigades International, Front Line Defenders, the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), Civicus, 11.11.11, and other international human rights organizations participated in an observation mission in Ecuador that took place from March 2-5, 2026.
The joint report on that mission will be published soon.
DW notes the report “speaks of the closure of civic space, threats against judicial independence and an increase in coercion against people who defend rights in extractive contexts or socio-environmental conflicts.”
DW highlights this excerpt of the statement (on March 6) from the mission: “The implementation of a security-type policy and the normalization of states of emergency and surveillance, as well as militarization, under the argument of facing a serious structural security crisis, is part of the deeply worrying panorama that we observe.”
INREDH: “They bombed a farm”
The Deutsche Welle article adds: “As for the militarization of the country, the population of San Martín, in the province of Sucumbíos, on the border with Colombia, allows us to glimpse what is happening.”
Ingrid García, executive coordinator of the Regional Human Rights Advisory Foundation (INREDH), told DW: “The military set fire to the houses and the next day they bombed a farm that was already completely destroyed.”
Video of that bombing was released on March 6, 2026, the day after the observation mission concluded its visit to Ecuador.
By March 24, the New York Times reported: “The Alliance for Human Rights, a coalition of groups in Ecuador, filed a 13-page complaint with the Ecuadorean authorities and the United Nations, claiming that the military’s actions were attacks on a civilian population. ‘There isn’t a single public official who has come to verify what happened,’ said María Espinosa, a human rights lawyer.”
Airbus helicopters
Global Defense Corp reports: “Ecuador currently operates a helicopter fleet in which Airbus types represent 80 percent, including the H215 Super Puma, H125 Ecureuil, H125M Fennec, and H145M. These platforms support current counterinsurgency efforts in northern provinces.”
That article also notes: “On June 2, 2025, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo formally delivered the first two Airbus H225M helicopters to the Ecuadorian Army [sourced directly from manufacturer Airbus] during at a ceremony held at Fort Huancavilca in Guayaquil.”
Photo of the H225M helicopter.
The Global Defense Corp article says the contract was signed in 2023. The month of that signing is not specified.
Though not a definitive connection, Airbus was present at the CANSEC arms show that took place on May 31-June 1, 2023, in Ottawa, while a short clip of an Ecuadorean military officer was featured in the promotional video released ahead of CANSEC 2023 by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI).
Human rights violations in Ecuador were raised prior to that time.
Amnesty International has noted: “Ecuadorian organizations reported that the response of the authorities to protests by Indigenous peoples over socio-environmental issues that began in June 2022 resulted in a wide range of human rights violations. These included arbitrary detentions, excessive use of force, criminalization and attacks on journalists and human rights defenders.”
Ongoing monitoring
Peace Brigades International and the other groups in the observation mission pledged to “continue to accompany, monitor and raise awareness internationally about the situation of human rights and the rights of nature in Ecuador.”
PBI-Canada is doing so through its monitoring of the CANSEC arms show taking place this coming May 27-28, 2026, in Ottawa.
–PBI expresses concern about the repression of human rights defenders in Ecuador, Canadian groups call for “Voices at Risk” to be implemented (PBI-Canada article, March 11, 2026)
–Despite human rights violations against Indigenous peoples and journalists, CANSEC promotes participation of Ecuadorean military at arms show (PBI-Canada article, May 28, 2023).
