HRF condemns the Ortega-Murillo regime for the death under state custody of Indigenous leader and political prisoner Brooklyn Rivera. Rivera was arbitrarily detained and disappeared in September 2023, held without charges or access to his family, and died after 971 days under regime control.

Rivera’s case reflects the regime’s broader campaign to dismantle civil society and silence all independent voices in Nicaragua. Political leaders, journalists, religious figures, activists, and Indigenous representatives have been arbitrarily detained, disappeared, stripped of their rights, or forced into exile for challenging the dictatorship.

The regime’s cruelty did not end with his death. Authorities refused to hand Rivera’s body over to his family, blocked his burial in Sandy Bay as he wished, and imposed an express burial under state custody. Seven relatives and close associates who traveled to Managua to claim his body were detained by the Sandinista police.

Rivera is not the first political prisoner to die under state custody in Nicaragua. The regime has also controlled the bodies and burials of other political prisoners and victims of repression, denying families truth, dignity, and the right to mourn. Democracies must demand an independent investigation, the release of all political prisoners, and accountability for Daniel Ortega, Rosario Murillo, and all officials responsible.