Tininiska Rivera (Miskitu), daughter of the late Nicaraguan Miskitu Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera (73), said she feels a mixture of grief over the death in captivity of her father and anger at the way he was treated and ultimately buried in an “express” burial without the participation of his family.
“They kidnapped him two times, once in 2023, and they kidnapped his body when he died,” said Rivera, the eldest of four children of the Indigenous YATAMA party leader. She said it was Brooklyn Rivera’s wish to be buried in the town of Sandy Bay on the Caribbean Coast, next to the tomb of his mother, Pulcida, with a traditional Miskitu ceremony.
Rivera’s daughter, Tininiska, did not immediately respond to a text message requesting comment.
Rivera was arrested in September 2023 as part of a government crackdown on political dissent, according to human rights groups. He was a sitting lawmaker at the time, and his family has said the government never formally admitted he was being held and denied family members visitation rights.
Wednesday’s confirmation of Rivera’s detention was accompanied by photographs showing him bedridden, intubated and severely emaciated.
The Interior Ministry described his condition as “delicate, with mechanical ventilation through a tracheotomy and intravenous feeding” owing to “multiple organ failure, a cirrhotic liver and an active lung infection.”
