AA
Share
The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo released images of political prisoner and Yatama Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera, who appears extremely thin and confined to a hospital bed.
This is the first time the dictatorship has shown the Indigenous leader since he was arbitrarily detained on September 29, 2023. The regime had ignored repeated requests from his family and the international community for “proof of life.”
Nicaragua’s Interior Ministry (Mint) released a statement and photographs showing Brooklyn Rivera in a hospital bed while receiving a visit from Nancy Elizabeth Henríquez James, former alternate Yatama lawmaker, who was released by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship on March 21, 2026, after spending nearly 30 months unjustly imprisoned.
“His current condition is critical, with mechanical ventilation through a tracheostomy and intravenous feeding. He is suffering from multiple organ failure, cirrhosis of the liver, and an active lung infection caused by resistant bacteria,” the Interior Ministry statement reads.
The statement adds that Rivera “has been examined by highly specialized physicians,” who have been monitoring his condition. “As of today, he continues to receive specialized medical care aimed at addressing all necessary aspects for the recovery of his health,” they stated.
Hospitalized Twice
Rivera has been hospitalized twice since his illegal capture in 2023. He was first admitted to the Roberto Huembes Hospital, run by the National Police, between September 30 and October 31, 2023; he was later transferred to Fernando Vélez Paiz Hospital on March 7, 2026, where he remains to this day.
According to the dictatorship, after the Indigenous leader was discharged from the police hospital on October 31, 2023, he was transferred to the National Penitentiary System in Tipitapa, where he allegedly continued receiving medical care and was visited every two weeks by his son, Wailandin Rivera Solórzano.
While in prison, Rivera showed “an obvious deterioration in his respiratory condition,” the Interior Ministry statement claims. For that reason, on March 7, 2026, he was transferred to Fernando Vélez Paiz Hospital, where he is reportedly being treated for a series of medical conditions.
Among the medical conditions listed by the dictatorship are:
- Cough associated with weight loss, fatigue, and weakness; possible pneumonia.
- Lung infections of both bacterial origin (Klebsiella pneumoniae pneumonia) and fungal origin (pulmonary aspergillosis), as well as bilateral pleural effusion.
- Respiratory deterioration, leading to a tracheostomy and the use of invasive mechanical ventilation.
- Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infection.
- Liver cirrhosis with macronodular lesions.
- Total parenteral nutrition was initiated, meaning he is receiving intravenous feeding.
Brooklyn Rivera’s Daughter Rejects Official Version
Tininiska Rivera, daughter of the Indigenous leader, rejected the Sandinista regime’s statement, saying it “contains false information” about both her father’s health condition and the conditions of his detention.
Rivera’s daughter stressed that at the time of his arrest, “he left his home in optimal health conditions, walking and fully able to care for himself.” Therefore, she added, “the regime cannot now attempt to blame preexisting conditions for the physical deterioration of a man who has remained in state custody for nearly three years.”
She also denied that the Indigenous leader had received biweekly visits while held in the National Penitentiary System, as the regime claims.
“I publicly denounce that, since his abduction and enforced disappearance, no family member has ever been allowed to visit him. Throughout all this time, our family has lived under uncertainty, anguish, and official silence, without independent access or verified information about his true condition,” Tininiska Rivera said.
She added that the statement and photographs released by the regime “only demonstrate the undignified, inhuman, and degrading conditions in which my father is being held, providing evidence of blatant violations of his fundamental rights. Far from bringing reassurance, the images reveal the severe physical deterioration of a 73-year-old man under the total control of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship.”
Presented at the Brink of Death
The release of images showing Brooklyn Rivera “at death’s door” comes after the dictatorship kept him forcibly disappeared for 970 days.
On May 1, 2026, United Nations experts urged Nicaraguan authorities to provide “immediate” proof of life for the Indigenous leader and warned that there was information suggesting he “may have died in detention.”
In their statement, the UN experts stressed that detention conditions in Nicaragua are “inhuman” and that, in the case of the forcibly disappeared — at least 112 people, according to UN figures — many may have been subjected to torture.
“Despite repeated requests from family members, police and prison authorities have systematically concealed the fate and whereabouts of these individuals,” they lamented.
Organizations such as Amnesty International, the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, and the U.S. Department of State also demanded “proof of life” for the Indigenous leader.
A Lawmaker Stripped of His Seat
Brooklyn Rivera, 73, is a Miskito leader, national president of the Indigenous party Yatama, and former member of the National Assembly. He was detained on September 29, 2023, at approximately 8:30 a.m. at his home in Bilwi, the main city of Nicaragua’s North Caribbean Coast.
On October 13, 2023, Rivera’s seat in the National Assembly was reassigned by the ruling party to alternate Sandinista lawmaker Ana Valeria Rafael Alfred — an action carried out outside the bounds of the law, since no criminal proceedings had been brought against Rivera and no parliamentary process had been conducted to strip him of immunity. Moreover, Rafael Alfred had been serving as the alternate for South Caribbean Coast lawmaker Antenor Urbina, of the FSLN.
At the same time as Rivera’s arrest, Ortega’s police forces occupied Casa Verde — the Yatama headquarters in Bilwi. Authorities also seized the party’s offices in Waspam, a town bordering the Honduran Mosquitia region, and shut down the community radio station Yapti Tasba Bila Baikra, which was aligned with Yatama.
