Nicaraguan indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera dies in custody

Prominent Nicaraguan indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera has died following nearly three years of secretive detention by the government of President Daniel Ortega, according to local independent news outlets.

Rivera, the principal leader of the Miskito indigenous people and a former member of the National Assembly, was arbitrarily arrested by national police in September 2023. Following his arrest, the Ortega regime placed him in incommunicado detention and refused to reveal his location or health status to his family or legal counsel for nearly 1,000 days, drawing widespread condemnation from the United Nations and international human rights watchdogs who classified his treatment as an enforced disappearance, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

His death follows days of growing international alarm over his physical condition. Under immense diplomatic pressure, the Nicaraguan government broke its silence and released photographs of an emaciated Rivera bedridden in a Managua hospital, under sedation, and relying on mechanical ventilation via a tracheotomy. The official state report acknowledged he was suffering from multiple organ failure, advanced liver cirrhosis, and severe drug-resistant lung infections.

Independent medical experts and human rights coalitions criticized the regime's disclosure, arguing that the severe deterioration of the 73-year-old leader was the direct result of deliberate medical neglect, inhumane prison conditions, and a total lack of timely care while he was held at the notorious La Modelo prison.

Rivera's passing underscores an ongoing, systematic crackdown on political dissent and indigenous autonomy in Nicaragua. Following his initial arrest in 2023, the government banned his indigenous political party, YATAMA, and seized its regional assets. He is one of several high-profile political prisoners who have died in state custody under the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship in recent years.

News.Az 

By Aysel Mammadzada