Washington, D.C., May 31, 2026 – Race and Equality strongly condemns the death of indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera, a defender of the rights of indigenous peoples and a Ta Upla of the Miskitu people, and holds the Ortega-Murillo regime directly responsible for the grave human rights violations committed against him, including his arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, prolonged incommunicado detention, the progressive deterioration of his health and his death while in custody of the Nicaraguan State.

Rivera’s death cannot be understood as an isolated incident or as the inevitable outcome of a medical condition. It is the result of more than 970 days of arbitrary deprivation of liberty, enforced disappearance, and conditions of detention incompatible with human dignity, while he remained under the absolute control of the Nicaraguan authorities.

Arbitrarily detained in September 2023, Brooklyn Rivera remained missing for long periods of time, without his family, his lawyers, or Nicaraguan society being able to independently ensure his accurate situation. Throughout this time, human rights organizations, international mechanisms, indigenous leaders, and members of the international community demanded information on his whereabouts, guarantees for his physical and psychological well-being, access to adequate medical care, and his immediate release. The regime systematically ignored these calls.

On May 27, 2026, the authorities publicly displayed Brooklyn Rivera in critical health. The images released showed severe physical deterioration. The official report itself acknowledged that he was suffering from severe lung infections, bilateral pleural effusion, and multiple organ failure, and that he depended on mechanical ventilation and intravenous feeding to survive. Just three days later, news of his death broke.

The severity of his condition did not arise suddenly. It was the consequence of years of confinement in conditions contrary to human dignity and the State’s refusal to fully guarantee the rights of a person in its custody.

Brooklyn Rivera dedicated his life to defending the rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast. His imprisonment, enforced disappearance, and death also represent an attack on indigenous leadership and on those who continue to defend human rights, territorial autonomy, and fundamental freedoms in Nicaragua.

Race and Equality maintains that Brooklyn Rivera’s death must be incorporated into the efforts toward documentation, memory, truth, justice, and accountability led by victims, civil society, and international human rights mechanisms. Those responsible for the violations committed against him must be held accountable for their actions.

Likewise, we demand that the authorities immediately return his body to his family and fully respect their right to say goodbye to him and give him a dignified burial in accordance with his wishes, traditions, and beliefs, without surveillance, restrictions, intimidation, or harassment.

“Brooklyn Rivera’s death represents an irreparable loss for the Miskitu people and for the indigenous peoples of Nicaragua. For decades, he dedicated his life to defending collective rights, autonomy, and Indigenous territories. His death after more than 900 days of detention and enforced disappearance while in state custody is an extremely serious matter that cannot go unpunished,” stated Carlos Quesada, executive director of Race and Equality.

We at Race and Equality express our solidarity with his family, with the Miskitu people, and with all those who have demanded his freedom over the years.