Home Blog

PBI-Canada attentive to the Breaking the Silence speaking tour in the Maritimes with CCDA coordinator Leocadio Juracán from Guatemala

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: PBI-Guatemala with Leocadio Juracán, July 2026.

The Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network is organizing a speaking tour in the Maritimes this coming October 20-23 with Leocadio Juracán, the agrarian reform coordinator of the Campesino Committee of the Altiplano (CCDA).

The Network highlights: “Leocadio will share updates about the ongoing realities that campesino (small farmers) and Indigenous communities in Guatemala are facing, their fight against illegal evictions and land dispossession, and the ongoing criminalization of those defending their lands, territories, and human rights.”

The tour schedule is as follows: Tuesday October 20 at 4pm: Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick; Wednesday October 21 at 6:30pm: Trinity United Church, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Thursday October 22 at 6:30pm: Sisters of St. Martha Centre, Antigonish, Nova Scotia; and Friday October 23 at 12pm: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Speaking tour poster

In August 2025, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on social media: “We stand in solidarity with Leocardio and CCDA Guatemala for repressive actions taken against the defender of human rights and access to land for indigenous communities and farmworkers This action shows what Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Rapporteur of the United Nations on the Right to Adequate Housing, that in Guatemala there is ‘a clear pattern of criminalization and intimidation towards those who attempt to protest or report these forced evictions.’”

This past summer, PBI-Guatemala also posted on social media: “On 8 July, #PBI accompanied community journalist Carlos Choc whilst he was covering proceedings at the Puerto Barrios Magistrates’ Court, where the interim hearing was held in the case against Leocadio Juracán, leader of the Altiplano Peasants’ Committee (CCDA), who was arbitrarily detained in August last year and released on alternative measures a few days later. He is currently facing trial for the alleged offence of aggravated trespass.”

Peace Brigades International accompanies the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) of the Verapaces in the departments of Alta and Baja Verapaz, the municipality of El Estor in the department of Izabal and the Zona Reina in Quiché.

The Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation thanks PBI-Colombia for their accompaniment during earthquake support in Buenaventura

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation has posted on social media:

“*Solidarity and Community Work Days in Buenaventura*

Throughout September and October, the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation—together with the Mothers for Life Association of Buenaventura—carried out two days of support for families affected by the earthquake.

We distributed humanitarian aid, including construction materials, rental assistance, and food supplies. We also organized a minga (collective community work effort) to help repair a home in the Zaragoza Alto and Medio area.

These gatherings allowed us to share knowledge, food, and collective labor, thereby strengthening community ties and ancestral practices of solidarity and mutual support.

We extend our thanks to Christian Aid, the Urgent Action Fund (FAU), and everyone who contributed to our solidarity appeal; to Tiendita Revoltosas – Legacy of Yanette Bautista for making these events possible; and to @pbicolombia for their accompaniment.”

On September 28, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted on social media:

“Following the earthquake on August 10, 2026, and the subsequent series of aftershocks, we accompanied the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation (@fundacionnydiaerikabautista) and the Madres por la Vida (Mothers for Life) Association of Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca) on a field visit to assess the situation and show our presence. The goal was to identify the needs of the women searching for their missing loved ones—known as women searchers —and their families, particularly regarding home repairs. In this context, the FNEB also distributed humanitarian aid to several women searchers from Mothers for Life who had been affected by the earthquake.”

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International has been accompanying the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation (FNEB) occasionally since 2007 and in full since 2016. FNEB is a group of women searchers fighting for justice and supporting the families of those who have disappeared.

Credhos will mobilize on October 14 in Barrancabermeja “to defend life, to defend human rights, to defend social protest”

By
Brent Patterson
-

Video still: Credhos president Ivan Madero Vergel speaks at press conference.

The Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (Credhos) held a press conference today.

Their social media post highlighted: “Barrancabermeja is mobilizing! The fight for our rights continues; workers and social and grassroots organizations are taking to the streets to defend our rights, a dignified life, jobs, education, and public health.”

At the press conference, Credhos president Ivan Madero Vergel stated:

“At a global level, social protest has been repressed. We see how fascism, imperialism, Zionism at a global level has been repressing the right to social protest in France, in Italy, in Spain. Not only in Europe, in Latin America we see the police repression and the authorities in Chile, in Bolivia.

And today, in Colombia, it wants to be repressed and judged at a governmental level, this constitutional right, which is the right to social protest. Today we are living in the Congress of the Republic the bills that have been ratified as a modification of the right to social protest. The 041, which is the anti-disturbance bill.

The 055, which has been ratified and modifies the right to social protest. But also the statutory law, which has 130 articles that establish the crime of terrorism in the actions for the defence of human rights. But today we have the decree 003 of 2021 which enshrines the right and the use of social protest and the limitation of the public force in the right to social protest in the streets.

This allowed us in 2021, in the national mobilization to speak with the authorities and defend not only the social protest but the integrity of civil and political rights as such.

We are going to make use of this day of October 14 of national mobilization, the right to the decree 003 of 2021. That is why we request from the human rights movement of Barrancabermeja to the governments, to the mayors, especially the mayor of Barrancabermeja and to the mayors of the region of the Magdalena Medio respect the right to social protest enshrined in the decree 003 of 2021 where it establishes in its article 12 the coordination of the districts, of the municipalities, of the mayors establish a coordination to regulate the use of the public force the presence of the police authorities and the army in the social protest but also the interlocution from the social movement and the movement of the social protest.

It also establishes the right for human rights organisations to become a commission of observation and guarantees for the right to social protest and the use of the force of the police and the army and the performance of themselves in the social protest.

This country today mobilizes on October 14 not only for the integral rights enshrined in the reforms that they claim from the Petro government in the labour reform, in the pension reform in the zero enrolment, in the right to health all the advances that we live today and that we are being beneficiaries by this government by the Petro government this government wants to eliminate and repress it as such that’s why we are not only going to go out to the streets to defend the right to social protest the integral right of human rights but we are also going to defend the reforms that were enshrined in the government of Gustavo Petro that today claims the integrity of human rights in Colombia.

From the human rights movement of Barrancabermeja we are inviting this October 14 at 8 in the morning to mobilize all the people of Barrancabermeja but we also invite all the people of the Magdalena Medio to go out to the streets, to defend life to defend human rights to defend social protest today is the call of this historical social movement of Barrancabermeja.”

To watch the full press conference, click here.

Peace Brigades International has accompanied the Regional Corporation to Defend Human Rights (Credhos) since 1994.

Poster from the Central Union of Workers (CUT) in Colombia.

PBI-Colombia accompanies the CIJP and Somos Génesis Network during visit by the Church of Sweden to the Bajo Atrato region

By
Brent Patterson
-

On October 8, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted on social media:

“From September 9 to 11, 2026, we accompanied the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace (CIJP) @justiciapazcolombia and representatives of the Somos Génesis Network during a visit by a delegation from ACT (Church of Sweden) @act_svenskakyrkan to the Bajo Atrato region.

In Jiguamiandó and Curbaradó, Afro-descendant, Indigenous, and peasant communities have established Humanitarian Zones and Biodiversity Zones as forms of civil resistance, enabling them to remain on their lands and defend their rights in the face of violence and dispossession.

For decades, the CIJP has supported these processes through legal, psychosocial, and organizational work, as well as initiatives focused on memory, territorial defense, and peacebuilding.

The Somos Génesis Network coordinates community-led efforts dedicated to defending territory, protecting communities, and building peace from within the territories themselves.

During the visit, representatives from 13 different initiatives shared their concerns, challenges, and proposals. The gathering also served as a space for interfaith dialogue, bringing together various Christian traditions rooted in a spirituality that links the defense of life and territory with the pursuit of a dignified and peaceful existence.

The visit helped bring these voices closer to international actors committed to human rights and strengthened bonds of solidarity and international advocacy.”

We continue to follow this.

 

PBI-Canada following the United Nations COP31 talks, the Peoples’ Climate Summit and the safety of frontline climate defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

Image from the Peoples’ Climate Summit 2026 Antalya.

Peace Brigades International-Canada is following the ongoing situation for human rights defenders in Türkiye, their safety in the lead-up to the United Nations conference of parties COP31 climate summit taking place in Antalya, Türkiye from November 9 to November 20, 2026, and the ongoing failure of the COP negotiations to improve the security situation for land and environmental defenders around the world.

Global Witness has documented that more than 1,500 land and environmental defenders have been killed since the 2015 Paris Agreement negotiated at the United Nations COP21 climate summit that year.

More should be spent on the climate than defence

The Guardian now reports: “Wealthy countries should spend far more on dealing with the climate crisis than the 5% of GDP [Gross Domestic Product] promised by Nato [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] members for defence because ‘the climate issue is the security issue’, the host of the next UN summit has said.”

The COP31 president-designate is Murat Kurum is the minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change in Türkiye.

The article in The Guardian continues: “Kurum said Nato countries should be much more focused on climate spending. He said they had promised to increase their defence budgets to 5% of GDP by 2035 as a result of ‘concerns for their own safety and security’, but had committed much less to addressing the climate crisis despite expressing concerns and it posing an even greater risk. Asked if he thought as much should be spent on climate as defence, he said: ‘Much more.’”

How much does Canada spend on climate vs “defence”?

A report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and the Climate Action Network (CAN) in Canada (published in February 2023) found that the Canadian government “is currently spending about $10 billion per year—soon rising to $15 billion per year, or about 0.5% of GDP—on greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts across several sectors of the economy.”

In June 2025, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged that Canada would spend 5% of annual GDP by 2035 on defence. With that pledge, direct spending on the Canadian military could reach $163.6 billion by 2035.

Canadian weapons sales to Türkiye

Defense News also recently reported: “Between 2019 and January 2024, Canada imposed restrictions on arms sales to Turkey and cancelled a number of export permits, creating a de-facto weapons embargo.”

That embargo was lifted in January 2024.

In 2024, Canada exported $107,875,401.50 in “strategic goods and technologies” to Türkiye. In 2025, Canada that figure was $60,760,039.44.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will be visiting Türkiye from October 21 to 23, 2026. The statement from the Prime Minister’s Office about this upcoming visit notes: “In Ankara, Prime Minister Carney will meet with President Erdoğan to elevate the Canada-Türkiye partnership in key areas, including energy and mining, climate, defence and security, and people-to-people ties.”

The situation for HRDs in Türkiye

Amnesty International has additionally documented that in Türkiye in 2025: “Baseless investigations, prosecutions and convictions of human rights defenders, journalists, opposition politicians and others intensified. …The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association were arbitrarily restricted. Law enforcement officials used less lethal weapons against peaceful protesters, causing numerous injuries. …Victims of human rights violations, including alleged torture and other ill-treatment by state officials, continued to face a culture of impunity.”

In its annual Freedom in the World report, Freedom House gave Türkiye a score of 32/100 and listed the country as “not free”.

COP31

COP31 will take place in Antalya, Türkiye from November 9 to November 20, 2026.

Human Rights Watch recently commented: “How Türkiye treats its environmental defenders at home will determine whether it can meaningfully fulfill its duties as COP31 co-host. As a co-host, Türkiye should ensure that civil society and environmental defenders can meaningfully participate in the meeting alongside government officials, experts, journalists, and business representatives.”

Video still: People’s Climate Summit organizer Çiğdem Özbas.

Earlier this week, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported: “Cigdem Ozbas of the People’s Climate Summit, a grassroots initiative of more than 100 organisations and individuals, … said so far, more than 1,000 people had committed to joining the People’s Climate Summit, among them over 300 organisations from 100 countries, who will help ‘make our demands visible’ during the first week. During the second week, there will be forums, thematic meetings and evening monitoring sessions to ‘examine proposals that amount to greenwashing, that obscure the real issues, or whose commitments remain unfulfilled,’ she said. …’But in the increasingly authoritarian environment in Turkey, nobody can feel fully secure. Detentions can occur at any time, and often the real reasons behind them are concealed,’ she told AFP.”

Peace Brigades International-Canada has organized webinars featuring human rights defenders at the time of the COP30 summit in Brazil in 2025; the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan in 2024; the COP28 summit in Dubai in 2023; the COP27 summit in Egypt in 2022; and the COP26 summit in Scotland in 2021.

Over the past five years, these webinar have amplified the voices of PBI accompanied defenders in West Papua (Dina Danomira, Teddy Wakum), Colombia (Berenice Celeita, Yuli Velasquez, Danilo Rueda), Guatemala (Walter Rene Lopez Perez, Sandra Calel), Honduras (Christopher Castillo, Juana Ramona Zuñiga), Mexico (Ana Paola Torres Barranco, Valeria Villalobos), Nicaragua (Amaru Ruiz Alemán), Kenya (Gladys Losiki, Nelly Madegwa) and Turtle Island (Eve Saint).

Video still from PBI-Canada COP30 webinar in 2025 that featured Indigenous West Papuan environmental defenders Dina Danomira and Teddy Wakum along with Global Witness policy advisor Javier Garate.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Mexico accompanies “Proteger la dignidad” forum in Puebla on the strengthening of protection for defenders and journalists

By
Brent Patterson
-

On October 8, Espacio OSC published:

“The Space of Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC), the Tlachinollan Mountain Rights Center, Peace Brigades International and the Iberoamerican University of Puebla, through its Minerva Calderón Legal Clinic and the Master’s Degree in Human Rights, yesterday presented the campaign to recognize the work of human rights defenders and journalists ‘Protect Dignity’, as well as its microsite on the university’s premises.”

Their article also documented: “According to the figures presented during the meeting, between 2016 and 2025, 184 human rights defenders and 84 journalists were murdered in Mexico, allegedly related to their work.”

Espacio OSC specifies that in the last ten years at least 13 defenders, four journalists and one searcher have been murdered in the state of Puebla, and that as of May 2026 Puebla has registered at least 2,848 missing people.

“The absence of a specific protection law in Puebla”

At the federal level, the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists has been operating in Mexico since 2012.

Puebla does not have its own “autonomous” protection law, rather it has a policy of cooperation with the federal protection mechanism.

The Proteger la Dignidad evaluation of the “Agreement of the Executive, which creates the Commission for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists” established in Puebla in 2017 can be read here. The overall score for compliance is low.

Correlating Canadian FDI and protection laws

The Government of Mexico has noted: “In the period January to December 2024, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Canada to Mexico is US$3.22B.”

The Mexican government also documents:

“In the same period, the states that received the highest FDI from Canada were Ciudad de México (US$1.57B), Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (US$158M), and Querétaro (US$155M). …The main origins of sales to Canada were Ciudad de México (US$6.46B), Puebla (US$2.33B), and Nuevo León (US$1.39B).”

Of these states, one state has no protection (Nuevo León), two states only have protection for journalists (Veracruz, Querétaro), one state has a policy to cooperate with the federal protection mechanism (Puebla), and one state/federal entity has a protection mechanism for defenders and journalists (Mexico City).

Espacio OSC advocacy in Canada

Espacio OSC visited Canada in September-October 2025 to call on the Government of Canada to help strengthen the protection mechanisms in Mexico for human rights defenders and journalists.

For more on this, please see Photo-journal of PBI-Mexico accompanied Espacio OSC advocacy tour in Canada on Protection Mechanism.

USW demand

The United Steelworkers (USW) recently called for “the construction of a proposal to reform the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists” and specifically for the creation of a National Protocol for the Protection of Trade Unionists and Labour Rights Defenders in Mexico, coordinated by an Inter-institutional Immediate Reaction Table for High-Risk Labour Disputes.

Canadian capital in Mexico

Canadian Direct Investment in Mexico was $66 billion in 2025 (cumulative). Canada is the third largest source of cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mexico, behind the United States and Spain. It has also been reported that the cumulative Canadian FDI figure for Mexico is US$56.847 billion (for the period 1999 to 2024).

Natural Resources Canada has also published that Canadian Mining Assets (CMA) in Mexico total $11,466 million ($11.466 billion) in 2023 and that Canadian Energy Assets Abroad (CEAA) in Mexico totaled $5 billion in 2017.

PBI-Canada asserts that Canada has an obligation to uphold and strengthen protection for human rights defenders, journalists and trade union activists both on principle and because of these high levels of economic involvement in Mexico.

Carney and Sheinbaum “remain in close contact”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on September 18-19, 2025, in Mexico City. The readout from their most recent telephone conversation on August 20, 2026, noted: “Prime Minister Carney and President Sheinbaum agreed to remain in close contact.”

The next Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues will take place in Mexico, likely in May 2027.

We continue to follow this.

Mexican Institute of Human Rights and Democracy notes attacks against human rights defenders and journalists under Sheinbaum

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico City, September 18, 2025.

Peace Brigades International-Canada continues to call on the Government of Canada to work with the Government of Mexico to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico.

Now, Deutsche Welle (DW) reports on the two-year anniversary of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum who took office on October 1, 2024.

That news report highlights: “[Edgar Cortez, a project coordinator at the Mexican Institute of Human Rights and Democracy in Mexico City] pointed out [as a continuing issue of concern] attacks on human rights defenders and journalists, along with a failure to sufficiently consult with Indigenous groups and rural communities when it came to major construction projects.”

Cortez comments that he hasn’t seen “any progress or setbacks” when it comes to human rights concerns.

Photo: Edgar Cortez is a lawyer, human rights defender, and project coordinator of the Instituto Mexicano de Derechos Humanos y Democracia A.C.

At least 28 human rights defenders killed over the past two years

The Global Witness Collective power: The struggle for protection for land and environmental defenders report documents that 10 land and environmental defenders were killed in Mexico in 2025.

And in their Roots of Resistance: Documenting the global struggles of defenders protecting land and environmental rights, Global Witness documented 19 cases in 2024, 18 killings and one disappearance.

At least 12 journalists killed over the same period

Reuters has alos reported: “Eight journalists disappeared or were murdered [7 murdered, 1 disappeared] in Mexico in 2025, the UK-based journalist advocacy group Article 19 said in a report [that] named Mexico as the country in Latin America with the highest ‌rates of censorship and judicial harassment against the press.”

And Anadolu English has reported: “In its 2024 round-up, it noted that five journalists were killed in Mexico, ranking it among the top three most violent places for journalism behind Palestine and Pakistan.”

Protection Mechanism

The United Steelworkers has explained: “At the federal level, the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists has been operating [in Mexico] since 2012. Its creation responded to persistent aggressions against both groups and to the demands made for years by national and international organizations.”

United Steelworkers proposals

The USW has stated: “We call on trade unions, organizations, defenders, academia and national and international organizations to support this initiative and contribute to the construction of a proposal to reform the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, adding their cases, proposals and endorsements to the request that will be formally presented to the authorities.”

They also call for the creation of a National Protocol for the Protection of Trade Unionists and Labour Rights Defenders in Mexico, coordinated by an Inter-institutional Immediate Reaction Table for High-Risk Labour Disputes.

Canada-Mexico Action Plan

In September 2025, Global Affairs Canada released its Canada-Mexico Action Plan 2025-2028. There is no specific reference to human rights defenders in this Action Plan, though the Government of Canada has called on Mexico to strengthen its Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists.

In January 2024, Canada called on Mexico at their United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to: “Strengthen, from an intersectional and gender perspective, the federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, specifically in the areas of prevention, protection, investigation, and reparation.”

Mexico-Canada Dialogue in May 2027

The most recent Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues took place in May 2026 in Ottawa.

The report from 2025 Dialogue noted: “Discussions addressed concerns related to attacks on freedom of expression, the influence of social media in spreading hate and discrimination, and the risks faced by journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico and globally. Topics also included the increase of digital threats, the importance of cybersecurity, the issue of disappearances in Mexico, Mexico’s human rights protection mechanisms and the possibility of a database to monitor disappearances. Both countries agreed to share experiences regarding data protection and databases.”

The next Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues will take place in Mexico, likely in May 2027.

Midterm elections in June 2027

The Texas Public Policy Foundation has commented: “Mexico’s 2027 midterm elections [on June 6, 2027] will constitute the most consequential political contest since the 2024 presidential election. …The electoral process will include the complete renewal of the [500-seat] Chamber of Deputies, seventeen governorships, state legislatures, and more than two thousand municipal governments.”

The next presidential election in Mexico will be in June 2030. (US President Donald Trump’s last day in office will be January 20, 2029.)

Carney and Sheinbaum “remain in close contact”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Mexico and met with President Sheinbaum on September 18-19, 2025. The readout from their last telephone conversation on August 20, 2026, noted: “Prime Minister Carney and President Sheinbaum agreed to remain in close contact.”

We continue to follow this.

 

Central Union of Workers (CUT) denounces armed attack against Gonzalo Núñez, calls on Colombian state to provide protection measures

By
Brent Patterson
-

On October 6, 2026, BluRadio Colombia reported: “From words to deeds came the threats against Gonzalo Núñez, president of the workers’ union of the Triple A [SINTRATRIPLE A.S.I.] aqueduct company and head of the Human Rights Department of the CUT [Central Union of Workers] Atlántico, who is being pressured by unknown persons to resign from his positions as a union leader.”

The BluRadio article continues: “The most recent threats against Núñez came on October 2, a WhatsApp message, in which they insulted him, called him a ‘lawyer of leftists hp’ and gave him a period of 24 hours to resign from his union work. Once the deadline had expired and noticing that Núñez remained in his posts, armed men attacked the leader’s home in the southwest of Barranquilla with gunfire, hitting the windows of the room where he was with his family.”

El Espectador has also reported: “Gonzalo Núñez Payares, director of the Human Rights Department of the CUT Atlántico and president of the trade union SINTRATRIPLE A.S.I. (Union of Industry of Workers of Aqueduct, Sewerage and Sanitation Companies of Colombia), suffered an attack on his home, according to the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT).”

That article adds: “The CUT asked the National Government and the Ministry of the Interior to urgently activate the protection mechanisms of the National Protection Unit (UNP), as well as the Attorney General’s Office to speed up the investigation to identify those responsible for the threats and the attack that put the life of the union leader and his family at risk.”

The Shield of Americas as a threat to union activity

The statement from CUT notes: “With the incorporation of Colombia into the Shield of the Americas, guided by the Government of De la Espriella, and the activation of the doctrine of the internal enemy, These actions do not constitute isolated events. Trade union activity is taking place in an alarming panorama of stigmatization and persecution that seeks to silence its legitimate exercise in Colombia.”

The full statement from CUT about this attack can be read here.

Attacks against trade union activists in Colombia

On October 3, around the same time as the attack against the union leader, Mongabay reported: “The report documented 401 attacks of different kinds against defenders in the first half of the year, which represents an increase compared to the 342 events recorded in the same period of 2025.”

On September 18, Justice for Colombia reported: “Justice for Colombia reports: “At least 16 social, trade union or political activists have been killed since 7 August [the date Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in as the 36th President of Colombia], while others have been threatened.”

Historically, union activists have faced high levels of violence in Latin America. According to the Colombian Trade Union Confederation, 1,500 union members were killed between 1986 and 1994. And since the early 1970s to the present day, more than 3,000 trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia.

Strengthening the Protection Mechanism

In December 2025, the Associated Press reported: “About 15,000 people nationwide receive protection from the NPU [National Protection Unit], the Interior Ministry said in a 2024 report. They include environmental and human rights defenders, journalists, local officials, union leaders and others facing threats, though watchdog groups say protections often fall short in rural conflict zones.”

On October 1, the United Steelworkers (USW) released a report on the Protection Mechanism in Mexico. Noting the Colombian experience, the USW highlighted: “In the face of decades of anti-union violence and sustained pressure from national and international organizations, the State developed one of the broadest protection systems in Latin America for trade unionists and labour rights defenders. …The main lesson for Mexico is that a protection mechanism should not be limited to reacting when the threat has already occurred. The Colombian experience shows the need to articulate individual and collective measures, strengthen territorial prevention, ensure coordination between labour, security and law enforcement authorities, and expressly recognize trade unionists and labour rights defenders as human rights defenders.”

Mobilization on October 14

On October 6, the CUT posted on social media: “The CUT reaffirms its opposition to the policies of the Abelardo de la Espriella government and its commitment to defending: Democracy and the social state based on the rule of law; National sovereignty; Human rights; The rights and hard-won gains of the working class; Peace and life. …It also reaffirms its commitment to the National Day of Mobilization on October 14.”

The CUT Colombia Instagram page can be found here.

We continue to follow this.

Register now for the “what is it like to be a brigadista” webinar, October 14

By
Brent Patterson
-

PBI-Canada is collaborating with PBI-Honduras to organize a webinar to answer your questions about “what is it like to be a brigadista” with Peace Brigades International. The webinar will feature a member of the PBI-Honduras team and a PBI accompanied human rights defender in Honduras.

Register now by clicking here.

This webinar will have simultaneous Spanish-English translation.

The organizations, defenders and communities accompanied by PBI-Honduras include the Honduran Alternative for Community and Environmental Vindication (ARCAH), “a space for community articulation and an anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-patriarchal, anti-colonialist and anti-classist social movement”; the Arcoíris LGTB Association of Honduras, an organization founded with “the aim of empowering the LGTBI community in Honduras”; the National Union of Rural Workers (CNTC), “a small-scale farming and trade union organisation, which fights for the distribution of land”; and the Civic Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organizations in Honduras (COPINH), that “promotes the protection of territories and the recognition of the political, economic, social and cultural rights of indigenous peoples in Honduras”.

The holistic protective accompaniment provided by Peace Brigades International helps enable these organizations to continue their work.

To find out more, register for the webinar on October 14 by clicking here.

PBI-Colombia to speak at the ‘Mario Paciolla’ Peace School conference in Naples, Italy on October 14

By
Brent Patterson
-

This announcement highlights: “NGO workers active in the Mediterranean and crisis zones, legal experts, researchers, and journalists will lead the second edition of the ‘Mario Paciolla’ Peace School, a free course offering an introduction to peace-related professions.”

“The initiative is promoted by the University of Naples L’Orientale and the Cinema e Diritti Association, the organization behind the Naples Human Rights Film Festival.”

It further notes: “Sessions will take place from Wednesday, October 14, to Saturday, October 17… On Wednesday [there will be] a12:00 pm connection with Guido Cenni of Peace Brigades International.”

The Peace School is named after Mario Paciolla, who was a volunteer with PBI-Colombia between March 2016 and August 2018. While with PBI-Colombia, Mario was part of the Bogotá field team and the later coordinator of that same team.

Mario, who was born in 1987, died on July 15, 2020, in the city of San Vicente de Caguán in the department of Caquetá.

Mario’s parents, Anna Monta and Pino Paciolla, along with many others continue to seek the truth behind the circumstances of his death.

In this video, Mario’s mother says: “Media escort is fundamental, because, especially in the case of Mario, we need to have many people by our side who somehow help us to divulge the story of Mario. …It will help us to be together and to avoid that facts of truth, such as what happened to Mario, do not happen to anyone.”

The full program for the Peace School can be found here.

123...470Page 1 of 470