Indigenous Miskito Leader Brooklyn Rivera Dies in Nicaraguan State Custody

Brooklyn Rivera, 73, the longtime leader of Nicaragua's Miskito people and founder of the YATAMA indigenous rights movement, died in Nicaraguan state custody on May 30, 2026 at 8:30 p.m. after nearly three years of arbitrary detention amounting to enforced disappearance. Rivera was arrested in Bilwi on September 29, 2023 on terrorism accusations shortly after denouncing the Ortega-Murillo government at a UN indigenous peoples forum in Geneva. Days before his death, the regime released photographs showing him bedridden, connected to a mechanical ventilator via tracheostomy and receiving intravenous nutrition. Nicaraguan authorities attributed the death to a bacterial infection following a bout of COVID-19; human rights groups and UN experts questioned the account, citing his prolonged denial of adequate medical care and lack of family or legal access during detention.