By Reuters and The Associated Press<\/p>\n
Published On 31 May 202631 May 2026<\/p>\n
Brooklyn Rivera, an Indigenous leader, politician and activist, has died at age 73 after years in Nicaraguan state custody, prompting outcry from rights advocates.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Nicaragua\u2019s government attributed his cause of death to a bacterial infection that took hold after a bout of COVID-19.<\/p>\n
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But critics have expressed scepticism and outrage, as the announcement came after growing pressure to ascertain his welfare.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he is dead, it cannot be said that the cause was illness,\u201d said Reed Brody, a member of the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua.<\/p>\n
In a statement before Rivera\u2019s death was confirmed, Brody blamed the government for any harm to the Indigenous leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cause would be that he was in government custody in conditions of enforced disappearance for over two years, denied independent medical oversight. There is no other way to read this,\u201d Brody wrote.<\/p>\n
Since September 2023, Rivera has been held in state detention, without contact with the outside world. Until recently, there had been no confirmation of his imprisonment, and his family was barred from seeing him.<\/p>\n
But on Wednesday, the Ministry of the Interior confirmed Rivera\u2019s detention and published photos of the Indigenous leader intubated in a hospital.<\/p>\n
It described Rivera\u2019s condition at the time as \u201cdelicate\u201d. He had reportedly suffered from \u201cmultiple organ failure, a cirrhotic liver and an active lung infection\u201d, and he was being treated with \u201cmechanical ventilation through a tracheotomy and intravenous feeding\u201d.<\/p>\n
The photographs spurred a new wave of condemnation and calls for his freedom.<\/p>\n
The United States \u201cdemanded his unconditional release\u201d in a statement posted to social media. It also blamed Nicaragua\u2019s leaders for \u201ctheir singular role in his cruel treatment\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis repression, violence, and inhumanity is abhorrent; we reiterate our call for his and all political prisoners\u2019 unconditional release NOW,\u201d the US State Department wrote.<\/p>\n
Nicaragua\u2019s government \u2013 led by spouses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, who serve as co-presidents \u2013 has long been criticised for its hardline rule and record of human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
Under Ortega and Murillo, dissidents have faced arrest, imprisonment, torture, exile and the revocation of their citizenship.<\/p>\n
Rivera was among the leaders who spoke out against Ortega\u2019s left-wing Sandinista government.<\/p>\n
A member of the Miskito Indigenous group, Rivera has advocated for the protection of his people\u2019s ancestral lands, along Nicaragua\u2019s northeast coast.<\/p>\n
The territory has faced pressure from government and business interests seeking to exploit its rich deposits of gold, silver and other resources.<\/p>\n
Rivera was also involved in the fight against the country\u2019s first Sandinista government, from 1979 to 1990, as the leader of the Misurasata armed group.<\/p>\n
In 1980, he went into temporary exile in neighbouring Costa Rica. A Sandinista attack after his return forced him once again to seek safety abroad, this time in Colombia.<\/p>\n
Rivera would go on to co-found Yamata, an Indigenous political party that helped secure limited autonomy for Indigenous peoples following peace negotiations with the Sandinistas.<\/p>\n