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PBI-Colombia accompanies Peace Community of San José de Apartadó at Universidad Campesina, highlights Rios Vivos report

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has posted on social media:

“In July 2026, PBI accompanied the @comunidad_de_paz_unica_oficial [the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó] during the three-day Universidad Campesina [Peasant University], an initiative designed to share knowledge, experiences and practices relating to the defence of their territories and nature. The exchange of ancestral and community knowledge also helped to strengthen bonds of solidarity between the various movements and reaffirm the importance of collective organisation.

Among the topics addressed were food sovereignty and autonomy, such as sugarcane production, indigenous legal systems, strategies for community resistance, environmental protection, and legal issues relating to land and access to justice. These forums provide tools and insights to strengthen organisational processes, autonomy and community life within Colombia’s current socio-political context.

#pesantuniversity”

Rios Vivos

One of the images shared by PBI-Colombia includes a report by the Movimiento Rios Vivos (Living Rivers Movement).

Rios Vivos opposes the Ituango hydroelectric dam Project.

A report by the Canadian non-governmental organization Above Ground documented that the Ottawa-based public bank Export Development Canada provided a $466-million loan in 2016 to Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), the company developing the dam despite longstanding warnings of corruption in the tendering process and impending harm to communities downstream.

In October 2020, Front Line Defenders noted: “During the last 11 years of active resistance against the Ituango hydroelectric dam project, six community leaders members of Movimiento Ríos Vivos and more than 30 other leaders and their family members have been killed within the affected area.”

In December 2025, ColombiaOne reported: “After years of uncertainty, technical challenges, and immense engineering efforts, the finish line is officially in sight for the Hidroituango hydroelectric power plant. The massive dam, located deep in the Cauca River canyon, has been a topic of national conversation for over a decade. Now, the project is entering its final sprint toward full operation.”

That article adds: “By early 2028, all eight turbines will be spinning.”

Accompaniment

The Peace Community is located more than 700 kilometres northwest of Bogota in the mountainous northern region in the department of Antioquia.

On March 23, 1997, the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado was formed. The farming community declared itself neutral in the armed conflict and rejected the presence of all the armed groups in its territory.

On the twentieth anniversary of its formation in 2017, the Peace Community stated that 326 of its members had been murdered and that more than 4,000 human rights violations had been committed against the community.

Peace Brigades International began accompanying the Peace Community in 1999.

Further reading: Controversial EDC-financed Ituango dam in Colombia scheduled to be operational on November 30 (PBI-Canada, October 21, 2022).

Isabel Zuleta from Rios Vivos speaking in Ottawa in November 2019.

PBI-Colombia accompanies the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó alongside dhColombia at Day of Remembrance

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 29, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted on social media:

“PBI accompanies @cdpsanjose, together with @dhColombia, in a day of remembrance, dignity and the demand for justice.

We accompanied the families and the community who continue to demand truth, justice and guarantees of non-repetition in the investigation into the murders of Édison David and Nallely Sepúlveda, which took place in the hamlet of La Esperanza in March 2024. More than two years after the events, the quest for justice remains an urgent demand.

We also took part in the commemoration of the La Unión massacre, which took place on 8 July 2000, when six members of the Peace Community were murdered. Remembering is an act of resistance and a way of honouring those who lost their lives defending their right to live in peace.

At PBI, we reaffirm our commitment to continue supporting those who keep defending human rights and building peace in their communities.”

Édison David and Nallely Sepúlveda

In 2024, El Colombiano reported: “Nallely and Edinson were murdered on Tuesday, March 19 at noon, the news reached Apartadó around 6 p.m. and the bodies were collected 24 hours later.”

At that time, El Heraldo reported: “The woman and the child were killed with firearms, apparently by members of a criminal group from which the Community has reported threats.”

Infobae added: “The region where this crime was perpetrated is mainly operated by the paramilitary Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC), also known as Clan del Golfo, the country’s largest criminal gang.”

Moira Birss, formerly of PBI-Colombia, has written in the NACLA report: “Part of what makes Apartadó and the Urabá region so attractive to armed groups (and the economic interests that often drive them) is the area’s strategic location near the Gulf of Urabá.”

She adds: “The area is also reported to contain significant coal deposits, for which the state issued an exploratory license more than 15 years ago.”

On March 13, 2024, just six days before she was killed, Nalleli Sepúlveda painted on a wooden gate that the Peace Community rebuilt after it was destroyed a message that reads: “Mining kills the land. We have the right to protect nature.”

Photos by the Peace Community.

La Unión massacre

In the October-December 2000 issue of Peace Magazine, Erika Zarate, a former PBI volunteer from Canada, writes about the massacre. Her article begins with a quote from Scott Pearce, another former PBI volunteer from Canada, who says:

“Yesterday we visited the village of La Unión. It was an emotional trip for me because it was the first time I had returned to the community since the massacre of July 8. We rode up to La Unión on mule. I rode with a young girl from the community, and as we proceeded slowly along the steep muddy trail she told me about her classes at school and we practiced counting. Then, without pausing, she began to talk about the massacre. Her father was one of those killed. She talked in detail about the events of July 8 in the same tone of voice she had talked about her troubles learning to read, as if it was all a strange story she couldn’t quite understand…”

Zarate adds:

“This recent massacre in San José, [was] allegedly instigated jointly by military and paramilitary troops… Twenty hooded men entered the village of La Unión and gathered together the villagers. After asking them several questions and, accusing them of “helping the guerrillas,” they separated the women, children, and old people and opened fire on the remaining group of men, killing six of them. They left immediately following the massacre, warning the villagers to flee the area within three weeks. According to the Intercongregational Commission for Justice and Peace (Colombia), Amnesty International, and the World Movement Against Torture, a helicopter, probably belonging to the XVII Brigade of the Army, flew over the site of the massacre, and troops from the same Brigade were seen close by during the same time period.”

Accompaniment

The Peace Community is located more than 700 kilometres northwest of Bogota in the mountainous northern region in the department of Antioquia.

On March 23, 1997, the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado was formed. The farming community declared itself neutral in the armed conflict and rejected the presence of all the armed groups in its territory.

On the twentieth anniversary of its formation in 2017, the Peace Community stated that 326 of its members had been murdered and that more than 4,000 human rights violations had been committed against the community.

Peace Brigades International began accompanying the Peace Community in 1999.

PBI-Honduras accompanies Arcoiris and LGBTI+ community at annual Pride march in San Pedro Sula

By
Brent Patterson
-

On August 3, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted on social media:

“‘We are celebrating the pride of the LGBT movement in style – with warmth, a great atmosphere, colours, life, joy and resilience – but above all with lots of love, lots of pride and lots of hope. Because we are here, we exist, we stand firm, and we will be here for the rest of the world,’ said Donny Reyes, director of @arcoirishn

On 1 August, the #LGBT community and civil society organisations marched together in the #Pride parade in San Pedro Sula, on a day of advocacy and solidarity.

At PBI, we express our support for the tireless work of the LGBT community in defending human rights, in continuing to create spaces for dialogue and in building networks of solidarity.”

Reportar Sin Miedo further reports: “’Get out of here,’ shouted motorcyclists and some drivers who crossed a lane to prevent the 2026 Pride March from advancing this August 1. All this happened in front of very few policemen, who from the shadows only watched without acting. No one stopped and more than 500 people from all over the country put their bodies and showed their joy in a nation that, so far this year alone, has killed more than 31 LGBTI+ people.”

“The municipal police of Mayor Roberto Contreras — a public enemy of sexual dissidence — only appeared in Las Banderas Square, where they surrounded the figure of José Cecilio del Valle, the hero who drafted the act of independence of Honduras.”

“Reportar Sin Miedo documented how fundamentalist groups used the space to intimidate the marching dissidents, making hateful comments and even making inappropriate recordings of the bodies of the participants.”

“Reyes stressed that this march was held in the midst of a government that was ‘conservative, highly macho, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic and even with officials denounced for child abuse, such as the president of the National Congress (Tomás Zambrano), and there it is. And people applaud him. Juan Orlando Hernández, drug trafficker, delinquent, has just arrived, and they welcome him with great fanfare. In other words, this is backwards, backwards, backwards.’”

Reyes says: “It’s up to us to raise our voices and denounce the fact that this sexist, homophobic and transphobic government is repressing us.”

Trans rights

Reportar Sin Miedo also reports: “So far in 2026, 11 trans people have been murdered throughout the country, according to data from the Observatory of the Lesbian Network Cattrachas.”

Accompaniment

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has accompanied Arcoíris, the LGTB Association of Honduras, since July 2015.

Peace Brigades International-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson met with Reyes and Jlo Córdoba of the Trans Women’s collective Rainbow Dolls [Mujeres Trans Muñecas de Arcoíris] at their office in Tegucigalpa on November 1, 2024.

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: PBI-Canada meets with Arcoíris LGTB Association of Honduras and the Trans Women’s collective Rainbow Dolls (PBI-Canada, November 25, 2024).

transmarchottawa: “Join us to march for trans rights! The 2026 Ottawa Trans March is coming up on Friday August 28th at 6:00pm, starting at Bank and Waverley.”

PBI-Guatemala accompanies journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc reporting on hearing against CCDA leader Leocadio Juracán

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has 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. At this hearing, the Public Prosecutor’s Office was due to present the evidence supporting the charge; however, the proceedings could not go ahead because the original case file was not available at the Mixed Appeals Chamber in the department of Izabal. The hearing was rescheduled for 8 September this year.”

Yesterday, CCDA Guatemala posted on social media: “One year on from the criminalisation of our comrade Leocadio Juracán, his spirit of resistance remains strong. Despite the setbacks, we continue to believe in the power of organisation, unity and the defence of our peoples and territories. We at the CCDA call on communities, young people, women, students and organisations to keep moving forward and building together. Leocadio is innocent! The greater the repression, the greater the organisation!”

Leocadio Juracán

Juracán is Kaqchikel Maya with a long history of activism.

On August 13, 2025, Prensa Comunitaria reported: “Leocadio Juracán Salome, leader of the Peasant Committee of the Altiplano (CCDA), was arrested this morning at La Aurora Airport when he was about to travel to South Africa for an international conference. According to information from his defense lawyers, the crimes for which Juracán was arrested are aggravated usurpation and provocation of forest fires.”

That article in Prensa Comunitaria further notes: “Juracán remains one of the representatives of the CCDA, an organization dedicated to the promotion of rural development of indigenous and peasant communities, which was founded in 1982, in the midst of the military dictatorships and came to light in 1989. Currently, the peasant organization accompanies indigenous communities and defenders of the territory in the face of eviction and criminalization issues in several departments of the country, including El Estor, Izabal and Alta Verapaz.”

In October 2024, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) posted an article titled Leocadio Juracán Salomé: A story union activists must care about. That article highlighted: “Leocadio Juracán Salomé is the agrarian reform coordinator and a driving force behind CUPE’s partner in Guatemala, the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA), a social justice movement active in over 70 communities. They have seen progress in negotiations on land issues with the new minority government, though its scope of action is limited as the judicial system remains controlled by corrupt officials.”

Accompaniment

PBI-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson met with Choc in Guatemala City in May 2023 and then did a follow-up webinar with him on August 18, 2023.

PBI-Guatemala 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.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Guatemala observes court hearing of three Indigenous leaders who defended the results of the 2023 presidential election

By
Brent Patterson
-

On August 4, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on social media:

“Today, #PBI is observing a hearing involving Luis Pacheco, Hector Chaclán and Basilio Puac. These former Indigenous leaders, who represented the 48 cantons, are facing criminal proceedings for their leadership role in the uprisings by Indigenous peoples to defend the results of the 2023 elections. They are charged with terrorism, obstruction of justice and criminal association.

Judge Mynor Moto, who was investigated four years ago for corruption and conspiracy to obstruct justice, ruled on three matters: (i) to agree to extend the investigation phase so that Pacheco and Chaclán’s defence team can prepare an expert report on the role of indigenous authorities in their communities; (ii) to reject the Anti-Terrorism Foundation as a joint claimant for failing to appear at the hearing; and (iii) to grant alternative measures, allowing Pacheco and Chaclán to be released from pre-trial detention, where they had been held for more than 16 months; Puac is already facing the proceedings on conditional release. All parties requested this change to the coercive measure.

The judge ordered house arrest at their respective residences, with the right to travel throughout the country; the obligation to report monthly to the Public Prosecutor’s Office; a ban on leaving the country without authorization; a ban on holding public office during the legal and criminal proceedings; and a financial guarantee of Q160,000 for each of them.”

Amnesty International further explains: “Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán were imprisoned for peacefully exercising their human rights and for playing the leadership role entrusted to them by their communities. They remained in pretrial detention after being arrested in April 2025 on charges related to the 2023 nationwide protests.”

Amnesty highlights: “In May 2026, Amnesty International declared them prisoners of conscience, concluding that they were being persecuted for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.”

On October 6, 2023, the Associated Press reported: “Thousands of protestors have blocked roads across Guatemala in surging demonstrations to support the president-elect, Bernardo Arévalo, after the country’s highest court upheld a move by prosecutors to suspend his political party over alleged voter registration fraud. Arévalo, an anti-corruption crusader who won a landslide victory in the August election, has denounced the suspension as a ‘coup’ aimed neutralizing him before he takes office in January, and his supporters are demanding the resignation of the prosecutors responsible. Street blockades that started this week grew from 14 on Monday to 58 road and highway blockages Friday.”

And following their release from custody this month, Plaza Publica reported: “Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán, former president and treasurer of the organization 48 Cantons of Totonicapán, returned to Totonicapán on the night of Wednesday, August 5 as part of a panel that had its doors open to greet their neighbors on the road; They were escorted by a caravan of cars and motorcycles. The news of their release immediately spread through the community, at the doors of the houses and at the turns of the road neighbors came out to celebrate them with balloons and whistles.”

That article also tells us: “After spending more than 15 months isolated in a cell of the Mariscal Zavala military prison, located in Guatemala City, where they were each other’s only company, that night they were no longer alone, hundreds of neighbors and residents came out in the cold of the night of the highlands to receive them.”

Additionally, JURISTnews notes: “Pacheco and Chaclán have not been cleared of the charges of terrorism, unlawful association and obstruction of criminal proceedings. The latest order changes the conditions under which they will await further proceedings, leaving the underlying criminal case unresolved. Each must pay 160,000 quetzales in bail, remain in Guatemala and avoid contact with witnesses.”

While the court process continues, the next presidential election in Guatemala is scheduled to take place in June 2027, less than a year from now.

There is already commentary about how 2026 could shape that election.

In January 2026, the Atlantic Council noted: “This year, Guatemala will undergo the most consequential institutional reset since its return to democracy in 1986. Five bodies that determine who gets prosecuted, who gets protected, who gets elected, and, ultimately, who governs the country will be renewed within a tight five-month window. The attorney general, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the comptroller general, and the rector of the University of San Carlos (USAC) all come up for selection between February and August 2026—a timing so unusual that analysts have described it as a ‘planetary alignment.’”

And Luis Javier Medina, a political scientist from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, has commented: “Amid all this, there is a clear intention on the part of political actors to prevent the reformist faction—whether through the Movimiento Semilla party or another organization—from competing in the upcoming elections. This heightens the importance of the aforementioned processes, as those selected for second-degree offices will have the final say in many decisions concerning the 2027 elections.”

We continue to follow this.

 

PBI-Colombia accompanies Credhos and Fedepesan on tour of San Silvestre, El Llanito and El Palotal wetlands

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo by Credhos.

On August 11, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted on social media:

“On 25 July, from the Magdalena Medio region, @credhos_paz [the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights] – Fedepesan [the Federation of Artisanal Fishermen, Environmentalists and Tourists], accompanied by PBI, undertook a tour of the wetlands of San Silvestre, El Llanito and El Palotal, against a backdrop of changes to water cycles and water levels. In this ecosystem, riverside communities, fishers, birds, small reptiles and mammals form part of the fundamental dynamics underpinning natural, community and local life. The environmental defence of the territory entails a political responsibility linked to environmental protection and the right of communities to preserve their traditional practices and processes of subsistence and survival within the territory. The continued existence and livelihood of communities in the territory require the State and companies to take responsibility for the environmental conditions affecting them.

The testimonies recount years of environmental changes and impacts, during which communities have continued to defend their territory and demand conditions that allow for the sustainability of diverse ways of life.”

On August 5, Credhos posted this additional context on social media:

“Since the beginning of July this year, the Federation of Environmentalist and Tourist Artisan Fishermen of the Department of Santander (Fedepesan) has been warning about the socio-environmental impacts on the wetlands complex of San Silvestre, El Llanito, and Palotal, aggravated by rising temperatures and decreasing water flow, which also highlights the effects of the climate crisis in our region.

This has led to the death of various species, the risk of vector-borne diseases and forest fires, the limitations of river mobility, and a serious impact on the development of subsistence artisanal fishing.

This scenario is the result of decades of negative environmental impacts related to different industrial activities and a practically non-existent local strategy for the prevention of these impacts.

Once again, we have accompanied Fedepesán on a tour through different wetlands, where a critical decrease in the water reservoir has been recorded, fish mortality, and the presence of oily discharges have been recorded.

This indicates the need to promptly implement the orders of the popular action lawsuit filed in 2024 in defense of the rights and collective interests of Fedepesán, where research and participatory monitoring are presented as key tools for the participatory management of the wetlands of Barrancabermeja.”

Accompaniment

The Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (Credhos) accompanies the Federation of Artisanal Fishermen, Environmentalists and Tourists (Fedepesan). Peace Brigades International has accompanied Credhos since 1994.

On the morning of Thursday June 30, 2022, PBI-Canada joined with PBI-Colombia as they accompanied Fedepesan and Credhos on a visit by boat on the San Silvestre wetland ecosystem in Barrancabermeja and were shown the impacts on water, wildlife and livelihoods of artisanal fishers.

From Canada, we continue to follow the work of Credhos and Fedepesan with great interest and solidarity.

PBI-Honduras accompanies ARCAH at protest outside the El Cortijo poultry company accused of polluting Choluteca River

By
Brent Patterson
-

On July 20, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted on social media:

“78 organisations are calling for a National Day of Protest against the Law on Strengthening and Protecting the Agro-industrial Sector, with work stoppages and peaceful protests taking place across the country.

‘This and other laws represent the continuation and intensification of a project of land dispossession (…) granting privileges to industrial and extractive sectors, weakening public institutions, restricting civic space, and persecuting and criminalizing defenders,’ according to the joint statement.

Among the signatories are OFRANEH [the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras], Plataforma Agraria, CMDBCPT [the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Assets], CNTC [the National Union of Rural Workers] National and CNTC El Progreso, @bufetejusticiaparalospueblos [Justice for the People Law Firm], @redefensorashn [the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras].

Also @arcahhonduras [the Honduran Alternative for Community and Environmental Vindication], which today held a demonstration – under the observation and accompaniment of PBI – outside the poultry company El Cortijo, which it accuses of polluting the River Choluteca.”

El Cortijo

On March 3, 2026, PBI-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson met with ARCAH outside the El Cortijo plant in the village Loarque.

In January 2023, PBI-Honduras posted on social media: “Last week we visited again with ARCAH the community of Loarque. The Choluteca River and the people living around it in Tegucigalpa are heavily affected by the pollution, including the children who study in a school located nearby, as well as livestock. Since 2017, the year in which the poultry company ‘El Cortijo’ installed a chicken processor, people residing in the area are struggling to safeguard their health due to toxic waste and bad smells.”

In April 2024, the HCH TV channel reported: “Residents of the Loarque sector came out to defend the Choluteca River because they claim that a company in the sector is destroying it. …The residents denounce that this company is causing them discomfort in their nose and skin as a result of the contamination. They hope that authorities will regulate this company that operates in this sector.”

At that time El Heraldo also noted: “The demonstrators claim that the Choluteca River, which passes through the sector, is being affected by waste, so they demand the intervention of environmental authorities.”

The “Law for the Strengthening and Protection of the Agroindustrial Sector of Honduras”

Grassroots and civil society groups have denounced the “Law for the Strengthening and Protection of the Agroindustrial Sector of Honduras” warning the law unconstitutionally favours agroindustrial companies to the detriment of small producers and campesino communities, risks weakening land rights, environmental protections, and the right to democratic participation, and could facilitate further violence and dispossession in the Bajo Aguan region.

After the passage of the Agro-industrial Law on June 4, 2026, El Heraldo reported: “The forces of public order will be obliged to intervene immediately in cases of strikes, demonstrations or protests on public roads. In such crisis scenarios, the National Police and road authorities must enable safe logistics corridors and clear accesses, ports and routes without delay.”

After that, the National Congress further expanded the legislation’s protections to the energy and tourism sectors on June 8.

The ranching industry is also protected by the law.

Accompaniment

We continue to follow these various struggles.

Peace Brigades International has accompanied the Honduran Alternative for Community and Environmental Vindication (ARCAH) since September 2022.

Additional reading

–PBI-Canada and PBI-Honduras visit with ARCAH and learn about the struggle to save the Choluteca River (PBI-Canada, March 4, 2026)

–Israeli military exports linked to eviction of CNTC farming community, violence against human rights defenders in Honduras (PBI-Canada, April 22, 2026).

PBI-Honduras meets with COPINH, follows up with institutions on destruction of crops in Rio Blanco

By
Brent Patterson
-

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

“’There won’t be a maize harvest, and it’s not just that a few plants have been killed – it’s long-term damage, direct damage; that maize was meant for food,’ denounce the Lenca Indigenous Council of the Río Blanco community, who have seen more than 3 manzanas of their harvest for personal consumption destroyed.

Following a visit to the community and with @copinh [the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras], PBI has been able to follow up with the relevant institutions on the numerous complaints filed regarding damage and threats, as well as to gather information on the community’s security needs and pass this on to the appropriate protection mechanisms.

#lenca #indigenouspeoples #bertacaceres #copinh”

On July 20, Copinh had posted on social media: “For the fourth time this year, crops belonging to the Lenca community of Río Blanco, in south-western Honduras, have been destroyed; meanwhile, compensation for the violence caused by the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project remains outstanding.”

At that time, Copinh shared the Avispa Midia article in which the Lenca community names a cattle rancher as the author of the latest aggression.

Accompaniment

The coordinators of COPINH have been accompanied by Peace Brigades International since May 2016.

We continue to follow this.

Additional reading: Photo-journal of PBI-Canada with PBI-Honduras accompanying COPINH on the 10th anniversary of the sowing of Berta Caceres (PBI-Canada, March 3, 2026).

PBI-Canada observes court hearing where Swiss arms dealer receives absolute discharge for assault at CANSEC arms show

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: In this CBC News video, Bassam Hashem, the father of the woman assaulted outside CANSEC, laments the ruling. He says: “We came to this country for one reason … that we can express ourselves. That we are equal citizens. Today we were told, ‘No. You are second-class citizens. You can be assaulted and that’s OK.” Photo by PBI-Canada of Hashem being interviewed by CBC News.

An attack against a Palestinian rights defender outside the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa in May 2024 has received significant media attention this summer.

On July 22, 2026, Justice Norman Boxall granted Swiss arms lobbyist David Henschel an absolute discharge following his admission of guilt in July 2025 on the charge of assaulting the 21-year-old woman.

At the time, Henschel was an employee of Swiss munitions firm Rheinmetall Waffe Munition Schweiz AG. He is now reportedly a lobbyist with Ammolux, the Luxembourg-based ammunition sub-holding of Beretta Holding.

Video still of the assault on May 29, 2024, outside CANSEC.

The articles about the ruling include:

–Swiss man who assaulted protester in Ottawa gets absolute discharge (CBC News, July 22, 2026), plus the CBC News video here

–Arms contractor granted discharge over assault on protester at Ottawa arms expo (The Canadian Press via CTV News, July 22, 2026)

–Arms supplier acquitted for assault on Ottawa protester (The Canadian Press via Radio Canada, July 23, 2026)

– ‘Proud,’ ‘Fucking Racist’ Absolutely Discharged of Assault on Palestinian Woman (The Leveller, July 25, 2026)

–Judge rules absolute discharge for Swiss man who punched 21-year-old Muslim protester at CANSEC 2024 (The Fulcrum, July 25, 2026)

–Swiss man who assaulted protester in Ottawa gets absolute discharge (shottawa.tv, July 23, 2026)

–Luxembourg ammo manufacturer hires lobbyist who assaulted protester (Investigative Journalism Foundation, August 9, 2026).

Numerous organizations – including the Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians (APAC), Labour for Palestine – Ottawa, and the Palestinian Youth Movement – Ottawa – also issued a statement of concern (published by Muslim Link here).

Attacks against defenders opposing arms companies

In May 2026, the London, United Kingdom-based Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC) released a report titled Navigating a global crossroads: Human rights defenders and business in 2025.

The report highlights that in 2025 there were at least forty-six attacks against defenders raising concerns about arms and weapons companies and their complicity in conflict and genocide. It further notes: “Protesters at arms fairs targeting companies selling weapons to Israel were detained in the United States, Turkey, Switzerland and France, whilst activists in New Zealand faced violence for protesting the militarisation of aerospace technology and its uses against civilian populations.”

CANSEC 2027

The next CANSEC arms show is now scheduled for June 2-3, 2027. It is not known if David Henschel will attend this event.

After the court ruling on July 22, The Fulcrum reported: “Given his experience in Canada, the judge said Henschel is unlikely to return and doesn’t need conditions to deter him.” The Investigative Journalism Foundation subsequently reported on August 9: “Henschel is back in Ottawa and was listed on Ammolux’s communication report with the chief of staff to Secretary of State for Defence Procurement Stephen Fuhr on Aug. 4.”

We continue to follow this.

Additional reading: CANSEC Arms Fair Bars Multiple Independent Journalists From Attending (Alex Cosh, The Maple, May 26, 2026).

PBI-Guatemala seeks applications for field volunteers, the deadline is September 1

By
Brent Patterson
-

On August 11, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on social media:

“Would you like to support human rights defenders in Guatemala? Our call for applications for the next selection process is still open! Find out more here: https://shorturl.at/JTqUy.”

That link will take you here.

That webpage notes: “Deadline for receipt of applications and references: 1 September 2026. Training and selection week in Navarra / Spain: 24 to 30 January 2027.”

All the information needed for you to submit an application to be a PBI-Guatemala field volunteer can be found here.

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