Overview
- Nicaragua’s health ministry confirmed on Sunday that 73-year-old Miskito leader Brooklyn Rivera died in state custody, saying his physical and neurological decline followed a bacterial infection after COVID-19.
- The government only acknowledged Rivera’s detention last week and released hospital photos showing him intubated and severely emaciated, saying doctors made intensive efforts to save him.
- Family members and independent lawyers had been denied access to Rivera since his arrest in September 2023, prompting repeated international requests for proof of life from the U.S. government and U.N. experts.
- Amnesty International, the U.N. Group of Human Rights Experts, the U.S. State Department and other rights groups called for a prompt, transparent and independent investigation and demanded that Rivera’s body be returned for burial under Miskito rites.
- Rivera founded the Indigenous Yatama party and spent decades fighting for Miskito autonomy and land rights, and his death adds to wider concerns about Nicaragua’s crackdown on opposition and the treatment of Indigenous leaders in detention.