Nicaragua on Wednesday released images of Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera, imprisoned since 2023 and whose proof of life had been requested by U.N. experts. The images show him in poor health on a hospital bed. Rivera, 73, was arrested in September 2023 after denouncing the situation of Indigenous populations during an international conference.
On May 1, a group of U.N. experts had requested proof of life for the leader of the Miskito people, a former lawmaker whose release has been demanded by the United States. The Interior and Health ministries published photos Wednesday of Rivera lying in a hospital bed, connected to a respirator and visibly thinner.
The images provided by official media were accompanied by a medical report stating that Rivera has been hospitalized since March 7 “due to an obvious deterioration of his respiratory functions.” His current condition is “delicate,” and he is under “mechanical ventilation” and “intravenous feeding,” the report added.
He also has “an active lung infection caused by resistant bacteria,” it said. In a message to official media, Rosario Murillo, wife of President Daniel Ortega and co-president, said Rivera had been “treated with a comprehensive program” to address his “ailments.” “We pray to God that he continues to improve,” she added.
Inhuman Conditions
After the publication, Amnesty International, which considers Brooklyn Rivera a “prisoner of conscience,” demanded an “independent medical evaluation.” Tininiska Rivera, the detainee’s daughter, held the government responsible for the deterioration of her father’s health in a statement posted on social media.
In March, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs accused the “Murillo-Ortega dictatorship” of holding people “imprisoned solely for opposing the regime” in “inhumane” conditions and without medical care. Ortega, 80, and Murillo, 74, have exercised strict control over opponents since the 2018 protests, which left some 300 people dead while hundreds were imprisoned.
Many dissidents have been stripped of their nationality and expelled from the country or forced to flee. Ortega, a former guerrilla who has been in power since 2007, is accused by many critics of establishing a “family dictatorship” with his wife.
Since a constitutional revision in February, the couple officially holds all powers within the state.
