Nicaragua: Indigenous leader Rivera dies in detention

Nicaraguan Indigenous leader and activist Brooklyn Rivera died from health complications after nearly three years in detention, the country's health ministry said on Sunday.

Last week, the Nicaraguan government's confirmed that he had been detained since 2023. UN representatives, the US government and Rivera's family have demanded proof that he was still alive.

"We regret to confirm that he has sadly passed away," the health ministry said in a statement on state-run media outlets.

Authorities said the leader's "physical and neurological deterioration" was "a consequence of a bacterial infection caused by the COVID-19 virus," adding doctors had made "enormous" efforts to save Rivera's life.

On Wednesday, the government had released images of Rivera hooked up to a ventilator, acknowledging that his situation was critical. 

The 73-year-old was a renowned leader of the Miskito People and a former member of Nicaragua's Congress. He was arrested in 2023 by the left-wing authoritarian government of President Daniel Ortega on undisclosed charges. 

According to news reports from 2024, the government told the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that Rivera's parliamentary immunity had been revoked. The authorities were  reportedly preparing to investigate serious crimes, including treason.

Rivera's exiled daughter, Tininiska Rivera, said that she wanted the government to hand over her father's body so that it can be buried under Miskito traditions. She also refuted the government's claims that family members were with Rivera when he died. 

Activists decry Rivera's death

Human Rights activists and groups across the world denounced the leader's death.

"They took him alive, and after refusing to tell his family, his lawyer, the world anything about his fate, then they call him brother," said Reed Brody, an American human rights lawyer and member of a group of UN experts on Nicaragua. Brody referred to an earlier statement where the Ortega Government called Rivera a "brother" and said they were praying for him.

"Unconscionable cynicism on the part of the government to make it seem like they were trying to help him," Brody said.

Manuel Orozco, a director at the Inter-American Dialogue, said that Rivera's death was a result of "complete neglect." "His death represents the magnitude of repression," he said.

Argentina-based Inter-American Center for Legal Assistance in Human Rights also denounced Rivera's death in a post on X, demanding that those responsible "should be held criminally accountable."

Albert R Ramdin, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, said he was "deeply concerned" about reports of Rivera's death.

"His death demands an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation," Ramdin wrote Sunday on X. "The rights to life, personal integrity, and due process must be guaranteed."

Edited by: Darko Janjevic

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