7 minutes agoAleks PhillipsReutersBrooklyn Rivera (right), pictured in 1988, led an indigenous militia against the Sandinista revolution in NicaraguaA leading Nicaraguan indigenous leader has died after being detained by the ruling authoritarian regime for nearly three years.
Brooklyn Rivera, an Indigenous leader, politician and activist, has died at age 73 after years in Nicaraguan state custody, prompting outcry from rights advocates.On Sunday, Nicaragua’s government attributed his cause of death to a bacterial infection that took hold after a bout of COVID-19.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Prominent Nicaraguan dissident shot dead in exile in Costa Ricalist 2 of 3Sandinista veteran, Ortega ally, arrested in Nicaragua corruption probelist 3 of 3Nicaragua frees dozens of prisoners amid pressure from Trump administrationend of listBut critics have expressed scepticism and outrage, as the announcement came after growing pressure to ascertain his welfare.“If he is dead, it cannot be said that the cause was illness,” said Reed Brody, a member of the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua.In a statement before Rivera’s death was confirmed, Brody blamed the government for any harm to the Indigenous leader.“The 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,” Brody wrote.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.But on Wednesday, the Ministry of the Interior confirmed Rivera’s detention and published photos of the Indigenous leader intubated in a hospital.It described Rivera’s condition at the time as “delicate”. He had reportedly suffered from “multiple organ failure, a cirrhotic liver and an active lung infection”, and he was being treated with “mechanical ventilation through a tracheotomy and intravenous feeding”.The photographs spurred a new wave of condemnation and calls for his freedom.The United States “demanded his unconditional release” in a statement posted to social media. It also blamed Nicaragua’s leaders for “their singular role in his cruel treatment”.“This repression, violence, and inhumanity is abhorrent; we reiterate our call for his and all political prisoners’ unconditional release NOW,” the US State Department wrote.Nicaragua’s government – led by spouses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, who serve as co-presidents – has long been criticised for its hardline rule and record of human rights abuses.Under Ortega and Murillo, dissidents have faced arrest, imprisonment, torture, exile and the revocation of their citizenship.Rivera was among the leaders who spoke out against Ortega’s left-wing Sandinista government.A member of the Miskito Indigenous group, Rivera has advocated for the protection of his people’s ancestral lands, along Nicaragua’s northeast coast.The territory has faced pressure from government and business interests seeking to exploit its rich deposits of gold, silver and other resources.Rivera was also involved in the fight against the country’s first Sandinista government, from 1979 to 1990, as the leader of the Misurasata armed group.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.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.Ortega eventually returned to power in 2007. In recent years, he has passed reforms to consolidate his control over the government, including by elevating his wife, Murillo, from vice president to president.In his last years of freedom, Rivera continued to speak out against the government.In April 2023, he travelled to Geneva, Switzerland, to address a UN forum on Indigenous peoples. After delivering remarks critical of Nicaragua, he was banned from re-entering the country.Rivera nevertheless smuggled himself back into the country and was living in hiding until his a
7 minutes agoAleks PhillipsReutersBrooklyn Rivera (right), pictured in 1988, led an indigenous militia against the Sandinista revolution in NicaraguaA leading Nicaraguan indigenous leader has died after being detained by the ruling authoritarian regime for nearly three years.Brooklyn Rivera, who founded the central American nation's indigenous movement Yatama, died due to "physical and neurological deterioration" linked to a Covid-19 infection, the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health stated on Sunday.The government, headed by President Daniel Ortega, took 15 hours to confirm the death and are refusing to release the 73-year-old's body to his family, opposition media report.The Nicaraguan government is routinely accused of political oppression, and Rivera is one of a growing number of dissidents to die in custody.Rivera had been arbitrarily detained when he returned to his home in Nicaragua in September 2023.He had long fought for indigenous autonomy in Nicaragua, and had opposed Ortega's Sandinista revolutionary government in the 1980s as part of an indigenous militia that fought alongside the Contras.Rivera's detainment was only recognised by the regime more than a year after it began, following pressure from other nations.Little was heard of his condition until Wednesday, when the government acknowledged he had been in hospital in the capital, Managua, since early March.It said he had been suffering from a range of conditions including "cerebral edema associated with severe neurological injury", a respiratory infection and renal failure.Nicaragua's Ministry of Health released an image of an emaciated Rivera lying in a hospital bed being ventilated via a tube through his neck.News of his ill health sparked renewed calls for his release.The US State Department said Rivera had been "unjustly imprisoned", and the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health's statement was "an attempt to conceal its central role in the cruel treatment and Rivera's current conditions"."This repression, violence and lack of humanity is abominable," it added.Meanwhile, César Marín, Amnesty International spokesperson for the region, said: "Brooklyn Rivera must be released immediately and unconditionally. "His critical health condition while in the custody of the Nicaraguan state confirms the extreme risk to which he has been exposed."The Nicaraguan Ministry of Health said on Sunday that Rivera had been surrounded by several members of his family when he died.It had earlier said he could not be transferred elsewhere due to his degenerating condition.News of Rivera's death was met by condemnation.Bianca Jagger, a Nicaraguan human rights activist and former wife of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme that she held the Ortega regime responsible for Rivera's death."We're talking about a dictatorial regime," she said. "There have been many other political prisoners who have died while in the custody of the regime."The Indigenous Youth Association of Moskitia - the ancestral region Rivera hailed from - expressed its "profound indignation at the inhuman, cruel and unjust treatment he endured in his final years"."Keeping an elderly person deprived of their liberty for years, without sufficient guarantees of due process, and in conditions that deteriorate their physical and emotional health, is a grave concern for any society that aspires to respect human rights," it said."His passing occurs in circumstances that should never have happened and that will continue to generate questions, pain, and legitimate demands for truth, justice and reparations."The Argentina-based Inter-American Legal Assistance Center for Human Rights, which supports victims of repression in Nicaragua, strongly condemned Rivera's death and said those responsible "must be held criminally accountable".Rivera served in Nicaragua's National Assembly four times, and as a minister for autonomous development in the 1990s, according to news site Confidencial.His polit
Indigenous rights leader Brooklyn Rivera dies after nearly 3 years detained in Nicaragua PBS
Nicaraguan Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera dies in state custody Reuters
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