On May 30, at the age of 73, Nicaraguan politician and activist Brooklyn Rivera Bryan died.
You may be thinking: Elderly men die. What's the big deal? In this case, Rivera died in state custody. He was a political prisoner of the Daniel Ortega-Rosario Murillo regime.
Rivera was born in the Miskito community of Li Dakwra, which is part of Nicaragua's North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region. He founded the Yapti Tasba Masraka Nanih Aslatakanka (YATAMA), or "Children of Mother Earth," movement. He became a prominent opposition leader during the Sandinista Revolution era in the 1980s, when he opposed the government's policies toward indigenous communities, which often included repression, forced relocation, and land seizures.
I won't get into his entire storied career, but on September 29, 2023, he was arrested as part of a typical Sandinista crackdown on dissenters. As little dictatorships do, he was charged with "terrorism" for merely opposing Ortega and has been detained ever since. No, scratch that. He's been disappeared ever since. He was held in harsh conditions with prolonged isolation and no contact with his family. His health began to decline rapidly, and there was no real oversight as to what kind of treatment he may or may not have received.
In late May, the regime released photos of him. He was emaciated and hooked up to a ventilator and other medical devices with multiple organ failure. They claimed he had COVID and had developed a bacterial infection. Human rights organizations around the world disagreed. Many suggest he ended up in this situation due to neglect, poor conditions, and lack of proper care.
On May 29, the U.S. State Department demanded his release.
Three years ago, the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship unjustly imprisoned Brooklyn Rivera. We have demanded his unconditional release ever since. The dictatorship released a statement through its state-controlled media only now that Rivera is critically ill, attempting to…
— Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs (@WHAAsstSecty) May 29, 2026
Unfortunately, it was too little too late. He died the next day. But the regime didn't stop there. According to the UN, it is now limiting "family participation in mourning and burial arrangements, and detained several relatives and supporters who sought to pay their respect."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio didn't take any of that lightly. On Monday, the State Department announced that it would hold the regime responsible by imposing visa restrictions on over "100 dictatorship officials and their family members." Here's more:
The United States will not ignore the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship’s responsibility for the horrific death of political prisoner Brooklyn Rivera. U.S.-sanctioned Lumberto Campbell Hooker was directly involved in denying medical care to Brooklyn Rivera and prevented his family from burying his remains.
Today the Trump Administration took decisive steps to impose additional visa restrictions on more than 100 dictatorship officials and their family members. With this new set of restrictions, the U.S. government has now taken steps to impose visa restrictions on over 2,350 Nicaraguan officials and their family members for their complicit role in Rosario Murillo and Daniel Ortega’s dictatorship. The United States stands with the Nicaraguan people who, like Rivera, aspire to see a free Nicaragua.
For what it's worth, Lumberto Campbell Hooker is a long-time Sandinista who currently serves as a judge on Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) and has since 2014. The U.S. and other international groups have long-accused the CSE of ensuring the Ortega-Murillo regime remains in power.
In the meantime, while the Trump administration continues to hold the regime accountable, the regime continues to cozy up to Russia. As I reported last month, the two countries signed a major military cooperation agreement, which Vladimir Putin ratified in May. It essentially allows the Russians to treat Nicaragua like their own little military base, right in our own backyard — you can get from Miami to Managua quicker than you can Miami to Washington, D.C.
Related: Russia Picks Up a Military Win in Our Backyard — Why Isn't Anyone Talking About It?
But the relationship doesn't end there. Last week, a Nicaraguan delegation led by Laureano Ortega Murillo — son of the co-presidents and the regime’s point man on Russia ties — was in St. Petersburg signing a Memorandum of Understanding on biological security with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the International Economic Forum.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Nicaragua straddles key Caribbean and Pacific approaches near the Panama Canal’s alternative routes. And it's a corridor for drug trafficking and mass migration to our southern border. China is currently grabbing up land concessions — it controls more land that you could fit in the state of Delaware in Nicaragua, while Russia is essentially making the country its own little territory. This message from the State Department is a good first step, but I'd love to see the Trump administration put more pressure on the Ortega-Murillo regime ASAP. Anything less invites more chaos in our country and the rest of the region.
We don't need a fully operational outpost for Beijing and Moscow that's just a two and a half-hour flight to our south.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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