human rights defender
Nancy Elizabeth Henríquez James
Actions and Campaigns
human rights defender
Actions and Campaigns
(AI translated) Demand guarantees of personal integrity, immediate specialized medical attention and their immediate release.
1961
Woman
Urban
In prison (pre-trial)
(AI translated) Nancy Elizabeth Henriquez James was born in Puerto Cabezas (Bilwi) on August 6, 1962, and is originally from Bilwi. She has four children, is a lawyer, and is an activist for the rights of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean Coast. She is a regional deputy, president, and legal representative of the indigenous political party Yatama. When she was 9 years old, she began her vocation to defend the Miskito people, taking up arms from the age of 11 to defend the rights of her people. She spent 10 years fighting in the mountains. Upon her return, she completed her secondary studies in Bilwi. She then studied for a bachelor's degree in Law and Moraba Theology. Subsequently, she has continued to participate in trainings on the rights of indigenous women. In 1991, she founded AMICA, the Association of Miskito Indigenous Women of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. In 1992, she began seeking alliances with indigenous women from Central America, traveling by bus around the region. Since then, she has continued to travel to build networks and defend the rights of indigenous women in international spaces. She has participated in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues of the United Nations, at the World Conference on Women in Beijing, and is a member of the World March of Women. In 2004, she became the first Indigenous Woman to be Mayor of Puerto Cabezas. In 2022, she was the gender liaison representing the Miskito people in the Mesoamerican Alliance for Forest and Peoples. She currently served as a Miskito indigenous deputy in the National Assembly as a substitute for regional deputy Brooklyn Rivera, who was detained and whose whereabouts are unknown to date.
Jan 10, 2023
(AI translated) 8 years of prison
(AI translated) She was kidnapped by the police on Sunday, October 1, 2023, in the city of Managua. She was tricked by the police into going to an address in the Las Américas sector of Managua, with the promise of a meeting with Deputy Brooklyn Rivera, who had been kidnapped two days earlier. Henríquez James went to the site with her niece and her 3-year-old grandson, and immediately, police officers took her to Station Three. At around 9:30 p.m., her relatives were released, but she was detained. She was then transferred to La Esperanza prison.
A few days later, both Ms. Henriquez and Mr. Rivera had their parliamentary immunity revoked, and on October 4, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), controlled by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship, canceled the legal status of Yatama, a party led by the two deputies.
On December 13, she was sentenced to 8 years in prison for the alleged offenses of conspiracy to commit damage to national integrity and dissemination of false news to the detriment of the State of Nicaragua and society, in a trial where she was not given any judicial guarantees, did not have access to a lawyer of her choice, and the judicial process was carried out via conference call. Her health has deteriorated further due to the deprivation and isolation she was subjected to in the first days of her detention. She is hypertensive, suffers from gastritis, and has numerous other illnesses. In addition, she is an elderly person who is not receiving proper medical attention in a timely manner, and her right to speak in her native language has been violated, as family visits are prohibited from speaking in Miskito.
Latitude: 12.156695347062476
Longitude: -86.09295485281102
Tipitapa
Establecimiento Penitenciario Integral de Mujeres (EPIM), mejor conocido como «La Esperanza»
(AI translated) Her arbitrary arrest took place on Sunday, October 1, 2023, by agents of the National Police disguised at the entrance of the residential complex "Las Delicias" located in Américas Dos Managua. During her arrest, she was accompanied by her three-year-old grandson and her niece, who were also detained at the district headquarters of the National Police and released nine hours later. The defender Henriquez remained missing for more than 15 days, as her family did not know her whereabouts or the reason for her detention. After her arrest, the police went to her home in Bilwi, Autonomous Region of the North Caribbean Coast. Until October 17 and then on November 1 and 22, 2023, the family reported that they were allowed to visit her at the Women's Comprehensive Penitentiary System (EPIM) prison, known as La Esperanza, where she was held in an isolated cell under inhuman conditions and without access to personal cleaning items. The relatives of Mrs. Nancy Henríquez have received threats, and some of them have been informed about the existence of arrest warrants against them, forcing them into exile.
(AI translated) Inter-American Court of Human Rights Resolution of February 1, 2024, Provisional Measures, Brooklyn Rivera Bryan, Nancy Elizabeth Henriquez James and Their Family Nuclei https://corteidh.or.cr/docs/medidas/yatama_se_02.pdf
Appointment as Substitute Deputy of the National Assembly http://legislacion.asamblea.gob.ni/Tablas%20Generales.nsf/InfoDiputado.xsp?documentId=3FC219A1A858753B062580A600597386&action=openDocument&SessionID=15A4B5053E9D8798F4992F2D
Documented by

(AI translated) Nancy Elizabeth Henriquez James was born in Puerto Cabezas (Bilwi) on August 6, 1962, and is originally from Bilwi. She has four children, is a lawyer, and is an activist for the rights of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean Coast. She is a regional deputy, president, and legal representative of the indigenous political party Yatama. When she was 9 years old, she began her vocation to defend the Miskito people, taking up arms from the age of 11 to defend the rights of her people. She spent 10 years fighting in the mountains. Upon her return, she completed her secondary studies in Bilwi. She then studied for a bachelor's degree in Law and Moraba Theology. Subsequently, she has continued to participate in trainings on the rights of indigenous women. In 1991, she founded AMICA, the Association of Miskito Indigenous Women of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. In 1992, she began seeking alliances with indigenous women from Central America, traveling by bus around the region. Since then, she has continued to travel to build networks and defend the rights of indigenous women in international spaces. She has participated in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues of the United Nations, at the World Conference on Women in Beijing, and is a member of the World March of Women. In 2004, she became the first Indigenous Woman to be Mayor of Puerto Cabezas. In 2022, she was the gender liaison representing the Miskito people in the Mesoamerican Alliance for Forest and Peoples. She currently served as a Miskito indigenous deputy in the National Assembly as a substitute for regional deputy Brooklyn Rivera, who was detained and whose whereabouts are unknown to date.
Latitude: 12.156695347062476
Longitude: -86.09295485281102
(AI translated) 8 years of prison
(AI translated) Her arbitrary arrest took place on Sunday, October 1, 2023, by agents of the National Police disguised at the entrance of the residential complex "Las Delicias" located in Américas Dos Managua. During her arrest, she was accompanied by her three-year-old grandson and her niece, who were also detained at the district headquarters of the National Police and released nine hours later. The defender Henriquez remained missing for more than 15 days, as her family did not know her whereabouts or the reason for her detention. After her arrest, the police went to her home in Bilwi, Autonomous Region of the North Caribbean Coast. Until October 17 and then on November 1 and 22, 2023, the family reported that they were allowed to visit her at the Women's Comprehensive Penitentiary System (EPIM) prison, known as La Esperanza, where she was held in an isolated cell under inhuman conditions and without access to personal cleaning items. The relatives of Mrs. Nancy Henríquez have received threats, and some of them have been informed about the existence of arrest warrants against them, forcing them into exile.
(AI translated) She was kidnapped by the police on Sunday, October 1, 2023, in the city of Managua. She was tricked by the police into going to an address in the Las Américas sector of Managua, with the promise of a meeting with Deputy Brooklyn Rivera, who had been kidnapped two days earlier. Henríquez James went to the site with her niece and her 3-year-old grandson, and immediately, police officers took her to Station Three. At around 9:30 p.m., her relatives were released, but she was detained. She was then transferred to La Esperanza prison.
A few days later, both Ms. Henriquez and Mr. Rivera had their parliamentary immunity revoked, and on October 4, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), controlled by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship, canceled the legal status of Yatama, a party led by the two deputies.
On December 13, she was sentenced to 8 years in prison for the alleged offenses of conspiracy to commit damage to national integrity and dissemination of false news to the detriment of the State of Nicaragua and society, in a trial where she was not given any judicial guarantees, did not have access to a lawyer of her choice, and the judicial process was carried out via conference call. Her health has deteriorated further due to the deprivation and isolation she was subjected to in the first days of her detention. She is hypertensive, suffers from gastritis, and has numerous other illnesses. In addition, she is an elderly person who is not receiving proper medical attention in a timely manner, and her right to speak in her native language has been violated, as family visits are prohibited from speaking in Miskito.
(AI translated) Demand guarantees of personal integrity, immediate specialized medical attention and their immediate release.
(AI translated) Inter-American Court of Human Rights Resolution of February 1, 2024, Provisional Measures, Brooklyn Rivera Bryan, Nancy Elizabeth Henriquez James and Their Family Nuclei https://corteidh.or.cr/docs/medidas/yatama_se_02.pdf
Appointment as Substitute Deputy of the National Assembly http://legislacion.asamblea.gob.ni/Tablas%20Generales.nsf/InfoDiputado.xsp?documentId=3FC219A1A858753B062580A600597386&action=openDocument&SessionID=15A4B5053E9D8798F4992F2D