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Remembering PBI-Guatemala accompanying the GAM protest against forcible disappearances at a military parade 40 years ago today

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Patricia Goudvis

The Mutual Support Group (GAM) has previously posted on social media: “What independence if we are killed and disappeared? Women and men of the #GAM screamed as they interrupted the military parade of September 15, 1986.”

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project accompanied that GAM protest 40 years ago today on September 15, Guatemalan Independence Day.

The Mutual Support Group was created in 1984 to bring together the families of people illegally detained and forcibly disappeared in Guatemala during the Internal Armed Conflict that lasted from 1960 to 1996.

GAM became the first organization to publicly condemn the State for the arrests and disappearances, which totaled 45,000 people, according to the Commission for Historical Clarification, including 5,000 children.

GAM notes: “Due to threats, the group met weekly in the house of Peace Brigades International and on Fridays marches and demonstrations were held in front of the Public Ministry, near the National Palace. They demanded the return of their loved ones and attracted the attention of their demands by rattling pots.”

It was the murder of GAM activists Hector Gomez on March 30, 1985, and Maria Rosario Godoy de Cuevas on April 3, 1985, that gave rise to the idea of PBI providing physical accompaniment to at-risk defenders.

Luz Leticia

PBI-Guatemala has noted: “Valentina Agustín and Jorge Hernández are the parents of Luz Leticia, who was disappeared on her 25th birthday on November 22, 1982. They have also been part of GAM from the beginning. Mirtala, one of Luz Leticia’s sisters, remembers … ‘my mother cooked food for the meetings’.”

PBI-Guatemala continues to follow the Luz Leticia case: PBI-Guatemala accompanies family of Luz Leticia at court hearing, verdict on her forcible disappearance expected on September 17 (PBI-Canada, September 4, 2026).

The Military Diary Case

No-Ficción has previously reported: “Aura Elena Farfán became involved in the search for the disappeared in March 1984, after the kidnapping of Luz Haydeé Méndez Calderón, her cousin’s partner. …Two months later, on May 15, 1984, Aura Elena’s brother, Rubén Amilcar Farfán, was disappeared… A month later, on June 4, Aura Elena Farfán became one of the founders of the Mutual Support Group [GAM]…”

PBI continues to monitor the court hearings related to the Military Diary Case: PBI-Guatemala continues to accompany the Military Diary court process, next hearing to be held on September 21 (PBI-Canada, September 11, 2026).

To follow the work of the GAM you can go to Instagram, Facebook and X and their website.

Further reading

–The 40th Anniversary of GAM: An Inspiration in the Struggle for Human Rights in Guatemala (PBI-Guatemala article).

–Peace Brigades International remembers with the Mutual Support Group (GAM) the life of Maria del Rosario Godoy Aldana de Cuevas (PBI-Canada, April 4, 2025).

PBI-Mexico accompanies the Cerezo Committee at the 27th meeting of the Special Search Commission for Edmundo Reyes and Gabriel Cruz

By
Brent Patterson
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The Cerezo Committee in Mexico has posted on social media: “Start of the 27th meeting of the Special Search Commission for the case of Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez.”

The Cerezo Committee has previously explained: “On May 25, 2007, in the city of Oaxaca, Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez, members of the Popular Democratic Revolutionary Party-Popular Revolutionary Army (PDR) were arrested and disappeared by various police and military groups.”

In the posted video, Nadi Reyes Maldonado, daughter of Edmundo Reyes Amaya, says: “We are going to see what proposals they have in this meeting. …They wanted to postpone it until October, but we demand that it will not be postponed… We will see what proposals they have regarding the search plan that has already been submitted by us and by Mr. Miguel Viera.”

She adds: “We will see how they are going to proceed with the investigations that we have pending, as well as the demands that we have made to the Public Prosecution Service to comply with the investigation acts.”

At the end of the day, the Cerezo Committee posted: “Closing remarks from the 27th CEB [Special Search Commission] meeting; next meeting on October 22.”

In this video shared on social media, Nadi Reyes Maldonado says: “Thank you for staying until the end of this meeting. I would like to comment briefly. In this meeting, the head of the CNB [National Search Commission], Marta Lidia Perez, was present. I feel that it is a requirement that we have maintained from the beginning [but there were] many meetings that she did not attend…”

“The most important agreements that were agreed were a meeting between the experts of the prosecution and the CNB. First, they will meet to share the observations that we have made regarding the search plan, and what they have not done in an adequate way, the observations that we have delivered by the expert Miguel León, who, as you know, is our independent expert, who has also participated in some delegations. During this meeting, it is assumed that an agreement will have to be reached with the joint methodology of both the CNB and the prosecution, as well as with our expert Miguel Nieva, in order to be able to carry out the delegations. …So, these experts are going to meet. The date is to be remembered, but it is between September 24 and 28, and we hope that this time this proposal and the work will be concrete…”

“They have the staff and all the modern technology to be able to carry out the searches in the field. So, we hope that the facts are fulfilled…”

Reyes Maldonado concludes by saying: “The next meeting of the special commission will be on October 22…”

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International began to accompany the Cerezo Committee in 2002. PBI-Canada has been posting articles about this case of the forcible disappearance of Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez since August 2022.

PBI-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson met with Francisco Cerezo Contreras of the Cerezo Committee in Mexico City in February 2026.

We continue to follow this.

Additional reading: “A good judicial decision is not always synonymous with justice”: OHCHR (La Jornada, September 9, 2026).

Indigenous land defenders Chief Na’Moks and Gwii Lok’im Gibuu reject major projects to be pitched at Canada Investment Summit in Toronto

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still: Chief Na’Moks and Gwii Lok’im Gibuu lead a march of more than 1,000 people to the AGO in Toronto where a gala dinner is taking place.

The Canadian Press reports: “Prime Minister Mark Carney’s high-stakes pitch for foreign investment is also attracting protests by Indigenous leaders and civil society groups opposed to his agenda.”

That article continues: “Speaking in Toronto on Monday [September 14], Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks said Carney has used U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war to build momentum behind his major projects push. ‘Canada is getting very good at blackmailing the public,’ he said, citing the prime minister’s argument that Canada needs to build more major projects to protect itself from predatory U.S. trade policy. ‘That’s their story. Their story is false, the same way that they think that these projects will go on without your support, without our support,’ said Na’Moks, who has organized opposition to pipeline projects in B.C.”

CBC News adds: “The impact of various projects on the environment was also a prominent concern throughout the speeches. ‘Everybody worries about their own backyard. Our front yard is this entire planet and we must stand together to protect it,’ said Wet’suwet’en Nation Hereditary Chief Na’Moks. ‘They’re taking everything we survive on and are willing to sell it to foreign investors.’”

Chief Na’Moks: “What we need to let the world know is that their reputation, not only of the CEOs, but also their country, that reputation will follow them for the destruction that they are doing to the human rights of this country and to the very environment. …We ask that everybody stand together throughout the world and say, know, there has to be a know. They call us the forces of no, but they spell it wrong. We spell it K-N-O-W. We know the damage that will be done. …We must stand together to protect it. Everything cannot have a price tag on it. Humanity can’t have a price tag on it.”

Gwii Lok’im Gibuu: “I have a message for Prime Minister Carney and his invited guests, that title holders, First Nations people, they’re not to be treated like obstacles that have to be navigated. We have constitutionally protected rights… I have no interest in disruption, I have an interest in keeping what’s ours, if we don’t flex this muscle of a right, it will eventually disappear… We’re being criminalized for upholding our rights, for living and for practising who we are. That is not okay. …We witness an erosion of human rights and a differentiation of human rights and indigenous rights. …Indigenous people around this country and around the world are standing together as one, and that unity empowers all of us, makes us stronger, and it gives us a voice.”

To hear Chief Na’Moks speak click here (4:18 on the CPAC video), and for Gitxsan hereditary leader Gwii Lok’im Gibuu click here (at 8:08).

Social media post by Kanahus Manuel.

Additional reading: Chief Na’Moks and Gwii Lok’im Gibuu speak in Toronto on the eve of the Canada Investment Summit (PBI-Canada, September 14, 2026).

On page 9 of the prospectus of the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto is the “KSI LISIMS LNG TERMINAL & PRGT PIPELINE PROJECT.

PBI-Honduras joins land and territory organizations and the CMDBCP at assembly of grassroots organizations in Tocoa

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted on social media:

“The members of the CMDBCP [the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods] in Tocoa remember Juan López—’who made nature a cause to live for’—as a ‘seed here in the Aguán, a seed of dignity and light. Peasant, Indigenous, and territorial struggles are struggles for the common good.’

PBI joins land and territory organizations and the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods on the second anniversary of Juan López’s ‘sowing’, keeping alive his memory and his legacy of protecting the Aguán, its rivers, and its forests.

We express our concern regarding the new precautionary measures for the alleged masterminds behind the murder, and we reiterate the demand for justice for Juan López and the communities.”

Accompaniment

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has accompanied Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) processes and Guapinol River defenders since January 2019.

Additional reading: Investigative report details connections between U.S.-based steel producer Nucor and Los Pinares mine in Honduras (PBI-Canada, October 9, 2024).

PBI-Canada amplifies Radio Popular del Aguan interview with COPINH general coordinator Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres in Honduras

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still of COPINH general coordinator Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres.

On September 13, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project was present at an assembly of grassroots organizations in Tocoa, Colon that brought together social, community and human rights organizations including the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).

This assembly took place in the context of the second anniversary of the murder of environmental defender Juan Lopez, the coordinator of the Tocoa Municipal Committee for Common and Public Goods (CMDBCPT) who defended the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers against the Los Pinares megaproject.

Radio Popular del Aguan interviewed Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, the General Coordinator of COPINH, at that assembly.

The full interview can be heard here.

Zúñiga Cáceres told Radio Popular del Aguan: “We have come as COPINH to this Popular Organizations Assembly, first of all, to show our solidarity with the fight that the Committee has maintained in defence of public and communal goods, the fight of all communities in this area, which continues to defend the Carlos Escaleras National Park, and fighting against those attempts to plunder the territories and plunder nature. But also, obviously, to honour the memory of comrade Juan López…”

“We know that [the ZEDEs and the privatization of the national energy company] are lucrative businesses, where not only the corporate power of this country, but also the international power, is involved, articulated, right, with the magic of power that exists in this country. But we also believe, right, in the hope and in the capacity that the Honduran people have been sustaining for so many years to give the battle and to face these powers that today are very clear, very evident, today they are known who they are.”

“We really have an active territorial struggle in the communities of the southwest of the country where the COPINH has work, claiming autonomy, fighting for the territories of the Indigenous communities which unfortunately today do not have a community title that supports their need for the land…”

Zúñiga Cáceres further noted: “[We are] defending the rivers against the interests of private companies, of privatizing them to generate energy and to scam the state of Honduras itself. And well, also articulating with more local spaces, more regional, to also defend concrete rights, for example, defend the right to an energy that is popular based on the needs of the people and not a privatizing energy that responds to the interests of the capitalist dynamics and business of this country.”

To listen to the full interview, click here.

Accompaniment

After the murder of Berta Cáceres in March 2016, her daughter Bertha Zuniga Cáceres left her studies in Mexico City to take up the leadership of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), and in May 2017 she was elected general coordinator of that body, the same position her mother had occupied.

The coordinators of COPINH, including Zuniga Cáceres, have been accompanied by Peace Brigades International since May 2016.

Further reading

–PBI-Canada joins PBI-Honduras in remembering Juan Lopez and the legacy of his struggle two years after he was killed in Tocoa (PBI-Canada, September 13, 2026)

–PBI-Honduras joins land and territory organizations and the CMDBCP at assembly of grassroots organizations in Tocoa (PBI-Canada, September 14, 2026).

 

PBI-Mexico accompanied defender Miguel López Veja: “We organize in this region because corporations have come here to plunder and pollute”

By
Brent Patterson
-

Video still: López Veja with PBI-Mexico accompaniment volunteers.

Australian-Mexican journalist, editor, activist and literary fiction author Tamara Pearson writes in Truthout: “Indigenous activists like Nahua grasshopper farmer Miguel López Vega describe the severe droughts, water scarcity, crop failure, and hunger that Mexico is experiencing as ‘signs of death’ of the planet, and say any solutions have to involve direct care of the land while stopping the harm.”

Pearson’s article continues: “López, who lives among volcanoes in the Cholulteca region [in the central highlands of Mexico in the state of Puebla], where the Spanish committed massacres in 1519, says, ‘We organize in this region because corporations have come here to plunder and pollute … which we don’t permit.’ He describes a giant sinkhole in the area, some 45 meters deep, that appeared overnight in 2021, following over-exploitation of local water, especially by companies like Danone, owner of Bonafont.”

“’These changes are signs of [planetary] death,’ says López. Describing things merely as ‘climate change,’ he argues, makes the process sound passive and abstract, whereas pointing to specific events like the sinkhole indicates that ‘our Mother Earth is screaming about the huge dispossession that is occurring to our people.’”

“López, in Puebla state, is experiencing [water scarcity that impacts the growing of food]. ‘The plundering, the trafficking of our water, we can see that reflected in our food. In my area, there are 10 hectares of land that now don’t produce anymore, we don’t have the food that we used to have.’”

“López describes … long-term direct actions. He says that in the Cholulteca region, they have stopped a toll road and a tourist project that ‘was distributing our land to a few people for profit.’ They also stopped the construction of high-tension electricity towers and industrial corridors, as well as prevented the contamination of rivers. And they camped outside a rubbish dump for two years, successfully shutting it down. In April this year, communities signed an agreement for the permanent closure of the plant and for the private company to carry out remediation for the soil contamination caused.”

“‘I’m convinced that just as our rivers in different parts of the country join together, if we join our struggles … our commitment to caring, defending, and loving [the environment] will prevent more harm,’ he says.”

The full article can be read at: Mexican Activists Are Fighting Climate Crises by Stopping Extractive Violence (Tamara Pearson, Truthout, September 12, 2026).

More from Tamara Pearson.

Accompaniment

Miguel López Vega is a member of the People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water of Puebla, Morelos and Tlaxcala. Peace Brigades International has accompanied the Peoples’ Front since early 2020.

Peace Brigades International-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson met López Veja in February 2026 in Mexico, including at the memorial service for Samir Flores Soberanes in Amilcingo (on February 20) and at the encampment against the (now closed) garbage dump in Puebla (on February 21).

Additional reading:

–PBI-Mexico accompanies acquittal of Nahuatl water protector Miguel López Vega criminalized for defending the Metlapanapa River (PBI-Canada, February 20, 2024)

–PBI-Mexico accompanies Nahua water defender Miguel López Vega at hearing for defending the Metlapanapa River (PBI-Canada, March 30, 2023)

–PBI-Mexico joins call for the release of Indigenous land and water defender Miguel López Vega (PBI-Canada, January 28, 2020).

Chief Na’Moks and Gwii Lok’im Gibuu speak in Toronto on the eve of the Canada Investment Summit

By
Brent Patterson
-

On Sunday September 13, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks and Gitxsan hereditary leader Gwii Lok’im Gibuu (Jesse Stoeppler) spoke at the Resistance Concert at Grange Park in Toronto on the eve of the Canada Investment Summit.

CBC News reports Prime Minister Mark Carney will pitch “167 possible investment opportunities … to some of the world’s biggest investment firms and sovereign wealth funds” at the summit in Toronto on September 14-15.

That article adds the major projects outlined in this 66-page “prospectus” are grouped into eight areas: “11 conventional energy projects, 31 clean energy projects, 63 in mining and metals, 16 in marine and port infrastructure, 11 in power and utilities, 10 in digital technology, 19 in advanced manufacturing and six transportation projects.”

Included on page 9 of that prospectus is the “KSI LISIMS LNG TERMINAL & PRGT PIPELINE PROJECT described as “Fully permitted and shovel-ready” with a “CapEx” (capital expenditure) of “Approximately US$28.5B” needed.

Gwii Lok’im Gibuu

In his speech at Grange Park, Gwii Lok’im Gibuu commented: “We are direct neighbours to the Wet’suwet’en. We have an ancient alliance.”

“Over the next two days, this place is going to be full of the richest CEOs and decision-makers of this country and around the globe.”

“I’m sure many of you have followed along over the last six years and had some exposure to the violence that was brought on to Wet’suwet’en territories over the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. That is exactly what happens when Indigenous people say no. When we have Title and when we have rights, that means we also have the option to say no. That is connected to true power, to sovereignty. Yet, the people that did so were criminalized and dehumanized.”

“For us as Gitxsan, and for many other nations, we’re facing another project called Ksi Lisims. That’s the terminal. Connected to it is the PRGT, or Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Pipeline. Roughly 800 kilometres long. Expanding through many, many different sovereign territories.”

Chief Na’Moks

Na’Moks highlighted his nation’s experience with the Coastal GasLink pipeline: “They came at us with C-IRG, now called CRU, a critical response unit, they brought in mercenaries, they burned us out of our homes, arrested us, they arrested us out in the territory. They wouldn’t even give us the dignity of being in a vehicle, like a truck or a van. They put us in dog kennels and then they brought us into jail, arresting our women.”

“After all the violence and that, they did manage to get the pipeline in. And it’s operating at 30%. We actually cost them between 8 and 10 billion dollars by just delaying it. And they thought they’d burn us out, throw us in jail. Well, to me that’s a compliment, because we’re Wet’suwet’en.”

“And when we get to confront them at this gathering we’re having, it lets them know that they don’t have the freedom that they seek to destroy water, air, and land. And the very future of your children and grandchildren, you have that power. Don’t let them ever try to convince you that you don’t have that power.”

“There’s not a pipeline boat that can handle the mountains we have. So, they’ve got to build two more compressor stations just to add more gas to that pipeline to bring it over these mountains. And they’ll be the two largest in the world, and they have not started the building yet. They keep on saying next year, next year, next year. But who’s there every year? We are. And you’re there with us when you want. We hope so.”

To watch the full video with Chief Na’Moks click here.

The video with Gwii Lok’im Gibuu is here.

A planned “direct intervention”

The Canadian Press reports: “While [Ontario Premier Doug] Ford and Carney pitched the summit as an opportunity for investments in Canada, civil society groups say they’re keeping company with business leaders that are exacerbating global crises. Demonstrators, including labour unions, Indigenous leaders and climate and housing advocates, will mobilize Monday carrying a banner reading ‘The Many vs. The Money,’ and plan ‘direct intervention’ with attendees. Organizers say they reject Carney’s plan to put Canada’s economic future in the hands of CEOs, and that they worry about the future of public services, pipelines and arms manufacturing.”

PBI-Honduras accompanies press conference in which OFRANEH files complaint with Public Prosecutor’s Office re: crimes against humanity

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted on social media:

“‘Today we are here to announce that the Garifuna people are informing the Honduran people and the international community that we have lodged a criminal complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding acts constituting crimes against humanity, in the form of persecution, against the indigenous, peasant and Garifuna populations, naming the National Defence and Security Council as the party responsible.’

This extract forms part of the statement issued by OFRANEH [the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization] during a press conference held outside the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Tegucigalpa, an accompanied attended by PBI.”

In their social media post about the press conference on September 10 outside the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Tegucigalpa, OFRANEH noted: “OFRANEH is filing a criminal complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding crimes against humanity committed by state officials in connection with the attack, land dispossession and systematic persecution of the Garífuna people.”

On the day of the press conference, they further posted: “OFRANEH today [September 10] lodged a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding a crime against humanity, as defined in Article 139 of the Criminal Code (Decree 130-2017), of which the Garifuna people of Honduras have been victims. This situation is also covered by Article 7 of the Rome Statute.”

In this video clip at the press conference, OFRANEH leader Miriam Miranda says: “We come to say that the Garifuna people communicate to the Honduran people and to the international community that we have presented before the public ministry a criminal denunciation for constitutive crimes against humanity in the morality of persecution against the indigenous people of the peasantry, as well as for individual crimes committed against the Garifuna people…”

That video clip is here.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Canada joins PBI-Honduras in remembering Juan Lopez and the legacy of his struggle two years after he was killed in Tocoa

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted on social media:

“Today we remember Juan López, a tireless defender of the environment. The legacy he left behind is more alive than ever.”

Their social media post includes several panels that say:

Juan Lopez, a legacy of struggle

“His love of life and his fight for justice left a lasting impression on all who knew him.” – CMDBCPT

Juan Lopez was coordinator of the Tocoa Municipal Committee for Common and Public Goods (CMDBCPT). In this role, he championed the peaceful defence of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers.

He speaks out to denounce the environmental degradation of the ‘Carlos Escaleras Mejia’ Montana Botaderos National Park, pointing the finger at the EMCO Holdings/Los Pinares/Ecotek extractive megaproject as the culprit.

On the afternoon of 14 September 2024, Juan Lopez was murdered as he left his church. Thousands of people from Tocoa, Honduras and around the world mourn the death of a man who gave his life for a better world.

“We did not bury Juan; we planted him; and from that seed, a tree of hope grew.” – CMDBCPT

On the second anniversary of his burial, the CMDBCPT, family members, witnesses and legal representatives continue to demand justice for Juan and to keep his struggle alive.

Would you like to find out more about Juan Lopez’s legacy?

Visit https://www.guapinolresiste.org/

Share this post on your social media

Follow @Comite Municipal en Defensa de los Bienes Comunes y Publicos on Facebook and use the hashtag #JusticiaparaJuan.

Accompaniment

With PBI-Honduras, PBI-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson visited Tocoa and Guapinol on October 29-30, 2024, about six weeks after Juan Lopez was killed.

Peace Brigades International has accompanied Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) processes and the defenders of the Guapinol River since January 2019.

As PBI-Honduras physically accompanies this process, PBI-Canada continues to follow this from Canada.

Additional reading: Research on the ownership structure of the Los Pinares megaproject in Honduras (PBI-Canada, June 16, 2025).

PBI-Colombia accompanies Ascamcat campesina association that highlights Buffalo Farmers’ Committee in Catatumbo

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Campesina Association of Catatumbo (Ascamcat) has posted on social media:

“Catatumbo also produces peace.

In El Ambato, Tibú, infrastructure continues to be strengthened for small-livestock projects—this time with the ‘Búfalos Catatumbo’ Buffalo Farmers’ Committee, an initiative rooted in the local community that fosters organization and the rural economy.

With the support of @mercycorpscolombia [Mercy Corps] and the Luis Carlos Pérez Collective [the CALCP lawyers collective], and accompanied by @iap_actionpeace [International Action for Peace] and @pbicolombia.

Rural organization, production, and peace for Catatumbo.”

Additional context

Last week, La FM reported: “Attacks with drones loaded with explosives have become one of the main threats in the armed conflict that has been taking place in the Catatumbo area since the beginning of the armed confrontation between the ELN [National Liberation Army] and FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] dissidents in January 2025. A consolidated report from the Departmental Network of Human Rights Defenders Corporation (CORPOREDDEH) establishes that between January 1, 2025 and September 8, 2026, 124 victims related to this type of event have been verified.”

That article continued: “Enrique Pertúz, president of CORPOREDDEH … stated … ‘What we believe is that this type of action is going to intensify in the Catatumbo subregion, and where the most affected will continue to be the indigenous, peasant and civilian communities, because we see that there is a president who does not talk about peace, but about bombing and making agreements with the United States to intensify the war. Today it is the drones that are deciding who is winning and who is losing the war.’  In addition, the social leader points out that the consequences of these attacks go beyond the dead or injured people. Taking into account that the organization documented damage to homes, vehicles, crops, animals, military and police infrastructure, educational establishments and places of worship.”

We continue to follow this.

Further reading:

–PBI-Colombia accompanies the Campesina Association of Catatumbo (ASCAMCAT) on Humanitarian Verification Mission (PBI-Canada, November 14, 2025)

–Asuncat members, National Protection Unit guards killed in attack in Catatumbo region of Colombia (PBI-Canada, May 22, 2026)

–PBI-Colombia amplifies statement on Catatumbo signed by accompanied organizations CAJAR, CSPP and CJL (March 7, 2025).

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