Brooklyn Rivera, an Indigenous leader, politician and activist, has died at age 73 after years in Nicaraguan state custody, prompting outcry from rights advocates.

Nicaragua’s government attributed his death to a bacterial infection following COVID-19. However, critics expressed skepticism and outrage, as the announcement came after growing pressure to ascertain his welfare.

Reed Brody, a member of the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, stated: “If he is dead, the cause cannot be said to be illness. The cause would be that he was in government custody in conditions of enforced disappearance for over two years, denied independent medical oversight.”

Rivera had been held in state detention since September 2023 without contact with the outside world. His family was barred from seeing him until recently.

Last week, the Ministry of the Interior confirmed his detention and published photos of Rivera intubated in a hospital, describing his condition as “delicate.”

The US regime demanded his “unconditional release” and blamed Nicaragua’s leaders for “their singular role in his cruel treatment.”

Rivera, a member of the Miskito Indigenous group, advocated for ancestral land protection and opposed the hardline rule of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

In April 2023, after criticizing Nicaragua at a UN forum, he was banned from re-entering the country but smuggled himself back and lived in hiding until his arrest in September 2023.

Source: www.aljazeera.com