Brooklyn Rivera, a political prisoner and Indigenous leader whom the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, held in detention and incommunicado for more than 970 days, passed away in Nicaragua at the age of 73, the regime announced following several statements regarding his grave state of health.
"Despite the enormous and intense medical efforts undertaken to restore the health of our Brother [akin to 'comrade'] Brooklyn whose physical and neurological deterioration was the result of a bacterial infection triggered by the COVID-19 virus, we regret to confirm that unfortunately he has departed this plane of existence," states a communiqué from Nicaragua's Ministry of Health dated May 31.
The Ministry of Health and the Directorate of Forensic Medicine "are carrying out the procedures corresponding to the certification of his death," adds the text published in El 19 Digital, a media outlet aligned with the Nicaraguan dictatorship.
'To be a Christian is to speak out and not remain silent'
"What exists in our country is not a government; it is a regime of repression, a cruel dictatorship that has turned Nicaragua into a police state," Father Edwing Román, a Nicaraguan priest serving as vicar at St. Agatha Parish in Miami, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, on May 31.
The priest denounced various "crimes against humanity" committed by the dictatorship, such as "arbitrary detentions based on fabricated charges, political prisoners dying in jails from torture, persecution of the Church, closing universities, stripping people of their citizenship, confiscations, disappearances, and murders."
Román also warned that "thinking differently is now a crime in Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan people deserve freedom, justice, and dignity, which are today being trampled upon by these criminals in power."
All of this "is already known to the international community, and they must act in the face of these systematic violations. To be a Christian is to speak out, not to remain silent in the face of this injustice," the priest emphasized.
Martha Patricia Molina, author of the report "Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church," which chronicles the dictatorship's attacks against the Catholic Church since 2018, said that what happened to the late political prisoner is "repugnant, reprehensible, and inhumane."
"With the Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera, the total number of people murdered by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship now stands at nine. There are more than 45 political prisoners who could still meet the same fate. These are crimes that must not go unpunished," Molina told ACI Prensa on May 31.
UN reports more cases
On May 1, a group of U.N. experts gathered in Geneva expressed their "deep concern" regarding missing persons in Nicaragua who reportedly died while in the dictatorship's custody after having been tortured.
In addition to Rivera, the experts referred to the case of another missing person who reportedly died "in February 2026 while in detention, and whose body was returned to their relatives without a death certificate."
In total, there are reportedly more than 112 victims of enforced disappearance, cases regarding which the Nicaraguan regime has been notified yet has provided no response to date.
Rivera's case
The case of Rivera, who was detained by the dictatorship on Sept. 29, 2023, has recently drawn a number of reactions from both the international and domestic communities, including that of his daughter, Tininiska Rivera, who refuted the regime's statements regarding her father's health.
On Wednesday, May 27, the Nicaraguan regime published a statement in El 19 Digital reporting on Brooklyn's "delicate" health condition, following his hospitalization on March 7. At that time, the news outlet reported that the political prisoner was on "invasive mechanical ventilation" due to a respiratory issue.
"As the daughter of Brooklyn Rivera Bryan, I categorically reject the recent statement issued by the Ortega-Murillo Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, which contains false information regarding the condition of my father's health and the conditions of his detention," Tininiska stated in a communiqué sent to the media, as reported by the newspaper La Prensa.
After noting that her father was in "optimal health" at the time of his detention, Tininiska emphasized that "since his abduction and forced disappearance, no visits by any family members have been permitted. Our family has gone through this period in a state of uncertainty, anguish, and zero response from the government, without independent access or verifiable information regarding his actual condition."
Rivera 'didn't simply die; he was murdered'
Arturo McFields Yescas, Nicaragua's former ambassador to the Organization of American States, stated on X that "Brooklyn Rivera Bryan didn't [simply] die; he was murdered. It was a state crime. It is the same playbook used in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua: They enter [prison] alive and leave dead."
Rivera was one of the most influential Indigenous leaders on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast and founded the Yatama movement, an organization dedicated to the defense of the Miskito people and other Indigenous communities. He served as a representative in the National Assembly.
Born on Sept. 24, 1952, in Nicaragua, he led an armed Indigenous resistance in the 1980s against the first Sandinista government and later participated in peace negotiations and the process for autonomy for the Indigenous peoples of Nicaragua's Caribbean region.
Dictators far from God 'multiply human victims'
Although he did not refer directly to Rivera, the exiled auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez, stated May 31 that "in contemplating the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, a mystery of love, unity, and freedom, we grasp just how far removed from God are the cruelty and cynicism of dictators who, no matter how much they invoke his name, exude hatred, multiply human victims, and seek to deify themselves by means of violence and repression."
"They are aging people in power, blinded by their ambition, destined for destruction," the prelate stated in his homily for the Mass he celebrated Sunday, May 31, at St. Agatha Parish in Miami.
Those who believe in the one and triune God, the bishop continued, "don't impose ourselves by force; we know how to listen, and we don't offend."
"Faith in the Trinity," he emphasized, "compels us to reject the logic of division, polarization, contempt for diversity, and the exclusion of minorities."
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
