The Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) has posted on social media:
“We accompanied Fedepesán [the Federation of Artisanal, Environmentalist, and Touristic Fishermen and Women of Santander] and Ecopetrol’s Environmental and Community Relations team on a reconnaissance visit to georeference strategic points along the Rosario, San Silvestre, and Palotal waterways.
This visit addressed the recurring environmental impacts identified and reported by local artisanal fishing communities. It also aims to encourage the company to conduct water and sediment quality analyses, strengthening inter-institutional efforts to protect and conserve these ecosystems.”
PBI-Canada visited the San Silvestre wetlands on June 30, 2022.
Here we provide the most recent information from the 2025 Report(with amounts in millions USD).
We encourage the institutional investors in Ecopetrol – including the Toronto, Canada-based Scotiabank – to be aware of this situation and the need to strengthen efforts to protect and conserve ecosystems.
We are organizing this webinar in collaboration with the Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC) and we are reaching out specifically to the Quaker community across Canada to amplify both concerns and credible ways forward to address the impact of weapons exports on human rights.
The speakers will be Kelsey Gallager (Project Ploughshares), Brent Patterson (PBI-Canada) and Mel Burns (CFSC). Moderator: Sandra Wiens (CFSC).
And we hope you will also join us on Thursday February 12 at 5:00 pm ET to hear about the need to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico.
The Protection Mechanism is an essential tool to protect defenders and journalists, but it is under-funded, lacks the capacity to enrol all who need its help, and needs to be strengthened.
We are working with PBI-Mexico and Espacio OSC to advocate both in Mexico and Canada to ensure the Mechanism is improved.
The speakers will be Elizabeth Guadalupe Mosqueda Rivera (Consorcio Oaxaca), Héctor Hugo Arreola Galván (Zeferino Ladrillero Human Rights Center), Mario Hurtado Cardozo (Espacio OSC), Aledia Quintana Ordaz (National Network of Human Rights Defenders). Moderator: Javier Garate (PBI-Canada).
For updates on this and more, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, UpScrolled, Facebook and X. You can also subscribe to our e-mail list here.
The Global Sumud Flotilla has posted on social media: “On March 29, 2026, a unified maritime flotilla and overland humanitarian convoy will depart simultaneously, mobilizing thousands from over 100 countries in a coordinated, nonviolent response to genocide, siege, mass starvation, and the destruction of civilian life in Gaza.”
In response to a direct call from Palestinians in Gaza, the Global Sumud Flotilla is preparing to sail again this spring with thousands of participants, more than a hundred boats, and expanded goals.
This mission not only aims to break the siege and deliver life-saving humanitarian aid, but also to establish a sustained civilian presence. Teams of doctors, nurses, teachers, eco-builders, unarmed civilian protectors, and others will disembark to work alongside the Palestinian people as they continue to endure the Israeli regime’s ongoing attacks and begin rebuilding healthcare systems and basic infrastructure destroyed over the past two years.
Establishing an Unarmed Protective Presence
Deploying trained civilian protectors to work alongside communities to deter violence and document violations.
What is the unarmed protective presence?
Unarmed civilian protectors are highly trained civilians who work alongside local communities to:
Deter violence through presence
Accompany civilians in high-risk areas
Document violations of international law
Strengthen local protection and accountability mechanisms
This model has been used historically to deter violence, including in the West Bank, and is distinct from humanitarian aid or military intervention.
Participants providing visible, unarmed civilian presence to deter harm and document abuses
Advanced Protective Presence participants accompany and support communities through disciplined, visible, and nonviolent presence, coordinated closely with local community guidance.
Requirements:
– Experience in armed conflicts
– Strong self-control and de-escalation
– High situational awareness in volatile or militarized settings
– Ability to follow strict protocols
– Reliable documentation and reporting when required
The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted on social media:
“Last week we met with ARCAH to discuss the right to water and the preservation of natural resources, focusing on the Choluteca River. As PBI, we support ARCAH’s work advocating for the communities they serve, and we emphasize that living in a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is also a human right.”
And on January 8, ARCAH posted several texts on the “fight for water” and the threat of water privatization including this one. It says: “This project is supported by international organizations such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and local companies that want to have power over the country’s water. These companies are known as water service providers (EPS), with Ficohsa being the main company that is causing harm to the people.”
Trump, Asfura and water
In November 2025, the Associated Press reported: “On Wednesday, [Nasry Asfura] received the endorsement of U.S. President Donald Trump… Trump mentioned on his social network that as mayor [of Tegucigalpa] Asfura helped ‘bring water to millions of people.’”
Asfura was declared the winner of the November 30, 2025, election on December 24, 2025, and was sworn into office on January 27, 2026.
ARCAH
ARCAH is “a space for community articulation and an anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-patriarchal, anti-colonialist and anti-classist social movement that seeks to defend territories and common goods from any project that threatens the peace and cosmovision of communities.”
“We begin our 2026 Balance and Planning session, which will determine a fundamental part for the analysis and projection of agendas that will allow us to continue persisting in the defense of life and dignity in the Magdalena Medio region.”
The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied these meetings.
“The Corporación Regional para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (CREDHOS) plays a key role in defending human rights and access to justice in Colombia — the country with the highest number of killings of human rights defenders worldwide, according to our Global Analysis.
Since late December 2025, CREDHOS has reported a wave of serious threats targeting its members, particularly its board of directors and its president, human rights defender Iván Madero. Their work in the Barrancabermeja area of Magdalena Medio — a region marked by disputes over territory, natural resources such as oil, and power among armed groups, state forces, and private interests — has made them targets of surveillance, intimidation, and pamphlets declaring them military targets.
These threats dangerously escalate the already high levels of risk faced by defenders working for justice, full compliance with the Peace Agreements, and the defence of territory and the environment. Despite existing protection measures from Colombia’s National Protection Unit (UNP), serious gaps in implementation continue to put their lives at risk.
We call on the Colombian authorities to act urgently: investigate all threats including clarifying the alleged involvement of state forces and the military in the intelligence operation carried out against them, publicly recognise the legitimate work of CREDHOS, implement effective protection measures, and end the criminalisation and stigmatisation of human rights defenders.”
From Canada, we remain attentive and concerned about this situation faced by members of CREDHOS.
(Left to right): Elizabeth Guadalupe Mosqueda Rivera, Héctor Hugo Arreola Galván, Mario Hurtado Cardozo, Aleida Quintana Ordaz, Javier Garate.
To hear more about the situation for human rights defenders in Mexico and the call to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for human rights and journalists, join us for this Zoom call on Thursday February 12 at 5:00 pm ET.
-Mario Cardozo, the Space of Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC)
-Elizabeth Mosqueda, the Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity Oaxaca (Consorcio Oaxaca)
-Aleida Quintana, the National Network of Human Rights Defenders (Red Nacional de Defensoras)
-Hugo Arreola, the Zeferino Ladrillero Human Rights Center (CDHZL).
And it will be moderated by Javier Garate, a member of the PBI-Canada Board of Directors and the Washington, DC-based US Policy Advisor for the Land and Environmental Defenders Campaign at Global Witness.
Three days ago, Mexican journalist Frida Guerrera posted on Instagram: “They threaten us again to be the next FEMICIDE. One more time. We have no fear. We will never be silenced. It does alter us. But here we go again.”
Infobae now reports: “On February 1, journalist Frida Guerrera denounced on social networks a direct threat that endangered her integrity.”
“On Wednesday, February 4, the organization dedicated to the defense of freedom of expression Article 19, exposed the case and condemned the facts, requesting the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to urgently investigate the threats. …Article 19 called on the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to investigate the case urgently, requesting that a gender perspective and intersections be adopted in the process.”
The article continues: “Given the constant risk she faces, since 2019 Frida Guerrera has had protection measures provided by the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders. These actions seek to protect their safety in the face of the series of threats and aggressions suffered in the exercise of their work.”
An article in El Universal also reports: “[Article 19] asked the Protection Mechanism to provide adequate and pertinent measures to ensure her integrity, since, she denounced, the communicator has been forced on several occasions to self-censor as a form of protection.”
“Frida Guerrera is a journalist who hunts down men who kill women.
For the past five years, Guerrera, who is 50, has devoted nearly every waking hour to searching for disappeared women and memorialising the victims of femicide. A distinct crime recognised in many Latin American countries, femicide is defined as the murder of a woman because of her gender.
Every day, Guerrera trawls national and regional news outlets, identifies femicide cases and catalogues victims’ age, location and the method of their murder on a spreadsheet. She then selects a few cases to write up on her blog, a never-ending scroll of pictures of victims, which she gathers from interviews with their parents.
Throughout the day, Guerrera posts missing person notices on her Twitter and Facebook pages and asks her tens of thousands of social media followers to help find the women or the men who targeted them.”
In October 2018, Vice noted: “In total, Guerrera has brought more than 200 stories into the public eye— where the government fails to report, she pieces accounts together, visiting the victim’s home and talking with parents, husbands, and children. Guerrera shares their stories on her blog and column with VICE Mexico, as well as a nightly Periscope broadcast in which she provides a daily update on the subject. …Her social life is limited due to the numerous death threats she receives and the constant anxiety that she may be the next woman on her own list.”
Previous threats
The Infobae article this week highlights: “According to the journalist, recognized for her independent work in the coverage of femicides and gender violence, this is not the first time she has suffered this type of threat.”
In fact, in August 2009, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project noted: “Among the recent cases of attacks against journalists in Oaxaca … an independent reporter and author of the blog Frida Guerrera, was physically and verbally assaulted in downtown Oaxaca on January 29, 2009.”
And in July 2017, PBI-Mexico shared that “Frida Guerrera, journalist and beneficiary of the Protection Mechanism” was a panelist at the launch of the Third Report by Espacio OSC on the Protection Mechanism.
Quadratin Mexico reported at that time: “Impunity and the lack of adequate investigation of the attacks and murders of journalists and human rights defenders fuel and exacerbate these attacks, as diagnosed in the report Comprehensive Protection for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, the debt of the Mexican State.”
PBI-Canada highlights at this crucial time that at the United Nations Universal Periodic Review session held on January 24, 2024, the Government of Canada recommended that Mexico: “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.”
From Canada, we remain attentive to the situation faced by journalist Frida Guerrera and amplify the calls for protection measures.
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Article 19 and PBI-Mexico are members of the Space of Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC). You can hear more about the need to strengthen the Protection Mechanism by registering here for this webinar on February 12.
The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has shared:
“On Sunday, 25 January, the Meeting of Peoples in Defence of Water and Forests was held in San Mateo Ozolco, Puebla. Ozolco is a community located on the slopes of the Itzaccíhuatl volcano, which is currently at the centre of a dispute over tree felling.
PBI accompanied the People’s Front in Defence of Land and Water – Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala (FPDTA – MPT) as international observers in their participation in this meeting of peoples.
The event was organised by the Committee in Defence of the Forest of San Mateo Ozolco and the National Indigenous Congress.
‘Descendants of landowners intend to cut down the forest on Mount Iztaccíhuatl and thereby destroy the region’s water supply, but as peoples it is our duty to protect the forest that our grandmothers and grandfathers left us to produce water and air for everyone. Let us defend the forest for life, so that we may continue to have water in the Izta-Popo region and the Cholulteca Valley.’ (FPDTA-MPT)
The gathering was an opportunity to forge bonds of solidarity between Ozolco and many communities in the region that are part of the same struggle to defend the forest and water.”
For a video of the Meeting of Peoples in Defence of Water and Forests please click here.
Accompaniment
PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water – Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala since early 2020.
The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has posted on social media:
“On Friday [January 30], PBI accompanied the Poqomam People’s Peaceful Resistance in #Chinautla at the eighth technical meeting to find a solution to the serious problem of water access faced by the communities. Various government authorities participated, including the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office (PDH), the Human Rights Commission (COPADEH), the Departmental Governor’s Office, and the Municipality of Chinautla. The community continues to reaffirm the need to move forward with concrete and sustainable solutions to guarantee this fundamental right.”
Significant court ruling
In July 2025, Mongabay reported: “[On June 5, 2025] the Mayan Poqomam population obtained a court ruling ordering the municipality to take measures against the inadequate management of solid waste and the generation of illegal dumps. …[The ruling] obliges the municipality of Chinautla to assume its responsibility in environmental management, in the face of the operation of illegal landfills. In addition to closing these illegal dumps, the court decision also ordered to address the affected ecosystems and design a technical and scientific response plan in the short, medium and long term.”
By November 2025, Plaza Publica further explained: “After more than three decades of community resistance, a court finally granted an injunction to this population, which obliges the municipality of Chinautla and other competent institutions to stop the pollution and restore the ecosystem. The court ruling represents a respite on paper, although daily life is still the same. …In compliance with the injunction, two meetings have been held, on August 28 and September 10, with the participation of the Ministry of the Environment, the Attorney General’s Office, the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office, the National Civil Police, representatives of Alianza por el Motagua and Aida, among other entities. The meetings are led by the mayor and the purpose is to find joint solutions to a problem that has overflowed over the years. … As a result of the court ruling, the municipal mayor says that they are analyzing with ancestral authorities the best way to clean up the environment.”
Accompaniment
PBI-Guatemala has previously explained on their website: “Since 1989, the Peaceful Resistance of the Poqomán People in Chinautla have been defending their right to be consulted on the activities of various clay extraction companies operating in their territory (Arenera La Primavera, Arenera El Pino, Piedrinera San Luis and San Fernando Arenera). They are also defending their territory against the pollution caused by other businesses operating in the region. Another problem faced by Poqomam communities is the pollution of the Las Vacas river that passes through Chinautla which flows directly out of the landfill in zone 3 of the capital city.”
PBI received a request for accompaniment from the Peaceful Resistance of the Poqomán People in Chinautla, as they have been subject to attacks and criminalization. PBI began accompanying them in December 2018.
