(AI Translated) Brooklyn Rivera Bryan, born on September 24, 1952, in the community of Li Dakwra on Nicaragua’s northern Caribbean coast, grew up in the communities of Sandy Bay Tara and Wawa. She is a prominent figure in Nicaraguan history and the Muskitia region, having dedicated her life to defending the rights and autonomy of the Miskitu Indigenous people, as well as other Indigenous Peoples and Afro‑descendant communities in Nicaragua. At 16 she moved to the capital, Managua, where she attended secondary school at the Experimental Mexico College, and later earned a degree in mathematics from the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN). She has four children (Tininiska, Jerry, Yaslam, and Wailandin).

Rivera began her struggle in the 1960s, when she became actively involved in the Miskitu fight for political autonomy and cultural recognition. In the 1970s‑80s she was part of the indigenous organization Misurasata, initially formed to represent the Coast communities undergoing change in the country; she served on its Board of Directors and was therefore persecuted by the Sandinista authorities, which forced her into exile in Costa Rica in 1980. This made Rivera a key figure in the Miskitu resistance against the Sandinistas, culminating in the armed conflict of the 1980s known as the Muskitia Coast War.

On January 21, 1986, Rivera survived an armed attack on the community of Layasiksa by Sandinista forces, which left three Indigenous people dead, five injured, and several civilians killed. She escaped the army’s assaults with the support of Indigenous communities, taking refuge on San Andrés Island, Colombia. Her resistance work—carrying enormous personal risk—helped raise global public awareness about Indigenous Peoples’ rights, paving the way for greater support and solidarity with the Miskitu cause.

In 1987, Rivera led a collective effort to unify the Miskitu resistance, resulting in the founding of YATAMA, the Organization of the Mother Earth Peoples. YATAMA played a crucial role in peace negotiations with the Sandinistas, leading to the signing of the 1987 Sapoá Agreement, which granted limited autonomy to Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast regions, including the Muskitia territories.

In the years after the war, Brooklyn Rivera, also known as Taupla Brooklyn (principal leader), continued her work as a defender of Indigenous rights and autonomy in Nicaragua. She has also worked tirelessly to promote economic autonomy, university education, and sustainable development in Miskitu communities, advocating for greater access to secondary and higher education, health care, and economic opportunities.

From 1990 to 1994, she served as minister‑director of the Institute for Development of the Atlantic Coast (INDERA), created by the government of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro to address the urgent needs of the Caribbean Coast after the end of the armed conflict.

After the war, YATAMA, under Brooklyn Rivera’s primary leadership, entered the political life of the autonomous regions and, since 1990, regularly participated in municipal and regional elections, becoming the main regional political organization of the Caribbean Coast. In 2005 YATAMA obtained a favorable judgment from the Inter‑American Court of Human Rights against the State of Nicaragua for violations of its political participation rights after being excluded from the 2000 municipal elections. However, the judgment has not yet been fully implemented by the Nicaraguan State.

In 2007, through an electoral alliance with the FSLN that lasted until 2014, Brooklyn Rivera was elected deputy to the National Assembly of Nicaragua. From her position as deputy she promoted the rights of Indigenous Peoples, particularly land‑titling actions to protect ancestral lands. In 2015 the FSLN illegally stripped Brooklyn Rivera of her deputy status. In 2016 she was re‑elected by her people as an independent deputy for the North Caribbean Region, from where she continued her fight for Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and in 2021 she was elected regional deputy for YATAMA for the 2022‑2026 term. The party’s legal personality was cancelled in 2023.

Throughout her life, Brooklyn Rivera has faced adversity with courage and determination, earning the respect and admiration of her people and supporters worldwide, who today demand proof of life and her immediate release.