Nicaragua confirms death in custody of Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera

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.

But 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.