The Nicaraguan government acknowledged Saturday that the health of jailed Indigenous opposition leader Brooklyn Rivera is in “critical condition.” Rivera, 73, was arrested by police in 2023 at his home in the Caribbean town of Bilwi and is considered a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International.
Intensive care specialists have determined that Rivera “remains in critical condition, with several organs affected,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement published by the pro-government newspaper El 19 Digital. Rivera’s case came to light last Wednesday when the government, which has not made public any charges against him, released photographs of the Indigenous leader lying in a hospital bed, connected to a respirator and visibly thin.
Nicaragua’s acknowledgment of the seriousness of Rivera’s condition came after the United States on Friday demanded his release. The government, led by husband-and-wife rulers Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, released images that Washington said show him in “critical condition.”
“We reiterate our call for the unconditional release of him and all political prisoners NOW,” the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said. According to Wednesday’s medical report, Rivera is on “mechanical ventilation” and receiving “intravenous feeding.”
He also has “multiple organ failure, cirrhotic liver and an active lung infection caused by bacteria.” Saturday’s report said the patient remains under “close medical monitoring.” Amnesty International, for its part, called for an independent medical evaluation.
Ortega, 80, and Murillo, 74, maintain tight control over opponents in Nicaragua following the 2018 protests that left some 300 people dead, hundreds detained and forced hundreds of thousands into exile. The government described those demonstrations as an attempted coup sponsored by Washington.
According to opposition reports, Ortega, who has been in power since 2007, is facing health problems, prompting Murillo to carry out an internal purge to secure the succession.
