The Indigenous World 2025: Nicaragua

Written on 25 April 2025. Posted in Nicaragua

Nicaragua is home to seven Indigenous Peoples. The Chorotega (221,000), Cacaopera or Matagalpa (97,500), Ocanxiu or Sutiaba (49,000) and Nahoa or Nahuatl (20,000) live in the centre and north Pacific. In addition, the Caribbean (or Atlantic) coast is inhabited by the Miskitu (150,000), the Sumu or Mayangna (27,000) and the Rama (2,000). Other peoples who also enjoy collective rights, according to the Political Constitution of Nicaragua (1987), are the Afro-descendants, known as the Creole or Kriol (43,000) and Garífuna (2,500).

In 1979, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) took power in Nicaragua and were later opposed by the U.S.-funded “Contra” armed front. Peasants from the Pacific and Indigenous Peoples from the Caribbean Coast participated in the Contras. In 1987, as a result of the friendly settlement of the conflict before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and with the aim of ending Indigenous resistance, the FSLN created the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RACCN) and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RACCS), based on a Statute of Autonomy (Law No. 28). Through the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ (IACHR’s) judgment in the case of the Mayangna (Sumo) Community of Awas Tingni v. Nicaragua in 2001, Law No. 445 on the Communal Property Regime of the Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Communities of the Autonomous Regions of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua and of the Bocay, Coco, Indio and Maíz rivers, among others, was enacted. This law recognizes the communities’ right to self-government and creates a procedure for the titling of territories. In 2005, the State began the titling process of the 23 Indigenous and Afro-descendant territories in the RACCN and RACCS, culminating in the delivery of property titles.

In 2007, Nicaragua voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and in 2010 ratified ILO Convention 169. In 2015, the Alliance of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples of Nicaragua (APIAN) was formed.

This article is part of the 39^th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. The photo above is of an Indigenous activist Funa-ay Claver, a Bontok Igorot, standing alongside Indigenous youth activists and others. They are protesting against the repressive laws and human rights violations suffered through the actions and projects of the Government of the Philippines and other actors against Indigenous Peoples at President Marcos Jr’s national address on 22 July 2024 in Quezon City, Philippines. The photo was taken by Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas and is the cover of The Indigenous World 2025 where this article is featured. Find The Indigenous World 2025 in full here

The reform of the Political Constitution of the Republic

At the end of 2024, a reform to the Political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua was approved that vests all civilian and military State institutional power in the Presidency of the Republic and ends the administrative and political autonomy of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (RACCS and RACCN). The reform establishes that the Presidency of the Republic will “coordinate” the regional bodies and proposes a constitutional law to regulate the autonomy or self-determination of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples.^[1] This reform thus institutionalizes the policy of internal colonization^[2] that the State has been imposing on the Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples of the Autonomous Regions for the last decade, in contravention of the official policy of the autonomous regime based on the Political Constitution of Nicaragua in force thus far, developed by Law No. 28, in effect since 1987^[3] and Law No. 445 in effect since 2003.^[4] The reform dispossesses these peoples of their ownership of the natural resources in the territories, recognizing only their usufruct, in violation of international human rights law and the fundamental freedoms of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples.^[5]

The situation of Indigenous youth

Amidst a climate of violence, dispossession and impunity, and in addition to having to fulfil their traditional roles, Nicaragua’s Indigenous youth are facing great challenges^[6] due to invasions onto their lands by settlers, non-Indigenous individuals and/or groups linked to private companies and the government structures of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), the political party currently in power. Such invasions not only result in a reduction in and loss of control of their traditional territories but also a lack of access to the forest for hunting and rivers for fishing, causing shortages of wild meat and, hence, protein intake. This situation is a driver of malnutrition, increased disease and higher levels of poverty.^[7] The lack of access to land for planting or harvesting due to fear of violence – physical, psychological and gender/sexual – caused by threats and massacres perpetrated by settlers in turn leads to forced displacement. In addition, this causes a loss of cultural identity and cohesion as Indigenous Peoples.^[8]

Military training and political persecution

Young people from Indigenous communities in the North Central Pacific of Nicaragua who work for State institutions report that they are afraid of being sanctioned and/or suspended from their jobs for raising their voices and claiming their rights to territory and communal autonomy. Worse still, during 2024, they were forced to attend military training, and even women who were breastfeeding or pregnant were forced to actively participate. Faced with this context, Indigenous youth are deserting their workplaces for fear of being recruited into compulsory military service, as was the case in the 1980s under the first Sandinista government.^[9]

In addition, Indigenous leaders are having to go into hiding because of persecution by police authorities stationed in Indigenous communities. For example, on 22 July 2024, a young 24-year-old community leader reported: “Yesterday afternoon my mother called and told me that several police officers had arrived [at our house] without any reason or warrant, entered by force and searched everything, also mistreating the women in the house. They did the same at my grandfather's house and this is because some land traffickers are making false accusations against me for my defence of the land and my rights as an Indigenous person.”^[10]

The impunity with which the settlers are able to act stands in stark contrast, for example, with the prosecution of 33 Indigenous Mayangna leaders, defenders of their lands, by the State authorities.^[11] The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared in 2024 that four forest rangers had been arbitrarily convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.^[12] This situation became all the more clear that same year during the oral and public trial of community forest rangers Rodrigo Bruno Arcángel (48 years old), Tony Bruno Smith (28 years old), Oliver Bruno Palacios (23 years old) and Evertz Bruno Palacios (18 years old), who appeared before the court chained and via videoconference from prison. Their relatives were not allowed access to the trial, nor was the defence lawyer permitted to cross-examine witnesses. They were also deprived of the right to communicate freely and privately with their defence lawyer, who did not have access to the court files at any time during the proceedings.^[13] Finally, on 5 February 2024, they were sentenced to 25 years in prison.^[14] Meanwhile, the community members stated that the detention of these rangers was a reprisal for defending their territory and denouncing the invasion of settlers.^[15] In addition, members of the National Police and the Nicaraguan Army used excessive force during their arrest, launching tear gas, assaulting and practically destroying the Bruno family home while they slept. They furthermore beat the women and children and threatened them with firearms without any search or arrest warrant issued by a competent authority.^[16] 

Murders of Indigenous youths

Indigenous youth face violence at the hands of settlers acting with total impunity.^[17] In the Mayangna Sauni As Territory (one of the 23 Indigenous territories of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast) alone, 20 Indigenous youths were killed by settlers between 2020 and 2024.^[18] Moreover, on 22 December 2024, a 26-year-old Mayangna Indigenous leader who was resisting the settlers’ invasion was tortured and murdered, presumably by the settlers. As usual, the settlers accused of committing the crime are enjoying the protection of the authorities and members of the FSLN party since, despite several complaints, the State authorities have not taken any action thus far.^[19] Several young Indigenous Miskito youths were also murdered by settlers in November 2024 and the Vice-President of the Government of the Mayangna Territory Sauni Arungka (Matumgbak) also died in suspicious circumstances^[20] without the case having been duly investigated or clarified by the corresponding authorities.^[21]

Violence against Indigenous girls

Uncertainty and violence in the midst of cultural differences that the settlers have imprinted on gender roles and power structures in Indigenous territories have a differentiated impact on the bodies of young Indigenous women and girls: sexual harassment, kidnapping and unwanted pregnancies. As has been reported, this “represents a greater risk for young women, as seen in the recent case of a young Miskito woman from La Esperanza, near Francia Sirpi, who was kidnapped by settlers and has not been heard from since”.^[22] The community members point out that the kidnapping of Indigenous girls by settlers is carried out in order to perpetrate forced unions through physical, psychological and cultural violence, subjecting them to forced displacement – even migration to other countries – and thus exposing them to human trafficking, labour exploitation and sexual abuse. Some settlers also hope to settle on Indigenous lands by obtaining land rights through children conceived with Indigenous girls in such circumstances.^[23]

Moreover, during 2024, two femicides were reported in the same week in the RACCN,^[24] of Indigenous Miskito women aged 21 and 27 years, with another 29-year-old left with serious injuries.^[25] One of the victims was a woman who was defending her land and the murder was perpetrated by settlers who then tried to dispose of the body in the Wawa River. Relatives of such victims report that the authorities do not carry out investigations or arrest those responsible and, in some cases, the authorities even refuse to receive their complaints and threaten them.^[26] In the Afro-descendant community of Laguna de Perlas, in the RACCN, a 26-year-old woman also died in unclear circumstances.^[27]

Forced migration and resistance

There are many reported cases of Indigenous leaders who have been forced to migrate for reasons related to insecurity and violence in their communities. They also flee repression and political persecution, moving to nearby communities and cities or internationally to Costa Rica^[28] and the United States. Once they feel safe abroad, as acts of resistance, some Indigenous women leaders raise their voices^[29] and others endeavour to cope with exile from their own cosmovision.^[30]

Dr. María Luisa Acosta is coordinator of the Center for Legal Assistance to Indigenous People (CALPI). Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; http://calpi-nicaragua.com

This article is part of the 39^th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. The photo above is of an Indigenous activist Funa-ay Claver, a Bontok Igorot, standing alongside Indigenous youth activists and others. They are protesting against the repressive laws and human rights violations suffered through the actions and projects of the Government of the Philippines and other actors against Indigenous Peoples at President Marcos Jr’s national address on 22 July 2024 in Quezon City, Philippines. The photo was taken by Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas and is the cover of The Indigenous World 2025 where this article is featured. Find The Indigenous World 2025 in full here

Notes and references

^[1] Center for Legal Assistance to Indigenous Peoples (CALPI). La “Reforma” Constitucional, la autodeterminación y la propiedad colectiva de los pueblos indígenas y afrodescendientes de la Costa Caribe de Nicaragua. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cL--i932EFuURQiuhA6QOWhk5O6s7B2F/view?usp=sharing

^[2] “Commonly, the concept has been used to better understand the centralization of an urban power to the detriment of the lives of peasants and ethnic groups that are dominated by that power.” Torres Guillén, Jaime. (May 2017.) “El Concepto de Colonialismo Interno”. National Autonomous University of Mexico. Institute of Social Research. Page 3. https://conceptos.sociales.unam.mx/conceptos_final/641trabajo.pdf?PHPSESSID=7860b3680ce92f2feb9a6c8f3fcfc1ad

^[3] Law No. 28, Statute of Autonomy of the Regions of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. Consolidated Text, published in La Gaceta, Official Gazette No. 180 of 01 October 2020. http://legislacion.asamblea.gob.ni/Normaweb.nsf/b92aaea87dac762406257265005d21f7/c187e561d277d5390625861c0074f038?OpenDocument

^[4] Law No. 445, Law on the Communal Property Regime of the Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Communities of the Autonomous Regions of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua and of the Bocay, Coco, Indio and Maíz Rivers, published in La Gaceta Official Gazette No. 16 of 23 January 2003. Retrieved from: http://legislacion.asamblea.gob.ni/normaweb.nsf/d0c69e2c91d9955906256a400077164a/f59730333b3f6fa5062571b200559533?OpenDocument

^[5] Ulises. “La larga y dolorosa agonía de la autonomía regional en Nicaragua”. Onda Local, (November 2024). https://ondalocalni.com/multimedia/176-autonomia-regional-nicaragua-larga-dolorosa-agonia/

^[6] ADIS e IVICUS. (October 2023). Desafíos de las Juventudes Indígenas y Afrodescendientes de la RACCN. Muskitia. https://asociacionadis.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Desafios-de-las-Juventudes-Indigenas-y-Afrodescendientes.pdf

^[7] UN Human Rights Council 55^th session. (10 September 2024). Violaciones y abusos de los derechos humanos de los Pueblos Indígenas y afrodescendientes de la Costa Caribe de Nicaragua. Group of experts on human rights in Nicaragua. A/HRC/55/CRP.7. Spanish only. Para. 207. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/grhe-nicaragua/a-hrc-55-crp-7-sp.pdf “Pueblos indígenas bajo ataque y criminalización en Nicaragua”. Mosaico CJI, 09 August 2024. https://mosaicocsi.com/2024/08/09/pueblos-indigenas-bajo-ataque-y-criminalizacion-en-nicaragua/ See also: OPIA. Exclusión, complicidad y colonización. Violaciones a derechos humanos en comunidades indígenas de la Muskitia Norte en Nicaragua. November 2023, p. 66 et seq.

^[8] CEJIL. (11 July 2024). Nicaragua: Pueblos Indígenas se encuentran ante un posible “etnocidio”, denuncian ONG ante la CIDH. https://cejil.org/comunicado-de-prensa/nicaragua-pueblos-indigenas-se-encuentran-ante-un-posible-etnocidio-denuncian-ongs-ante-la-cidh/ See also: IACHR. (11 July 2024). Nicaragua: Indigenous Peoples in the Northern Caribbean Coast Region and violations of the right to freedom of religion. IACHR Hearing Period of Sessions No. 190. Washington D.C., https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/sessions/hearing.asp?Hearing=3744

^[9] Régimen sandinista reactiva ‘servicio militar obligatorio’ en los empleados públicos. Divergentes, 19 September 2024. Recuperado de: https://www.divergentes.com/regimen-sandinista-reactiva-servicio-militar-empleados-publicos/ See also: “’Nos sacan de las aulas a tomar armas’. Régimen obliga a maestros a participar en ‘curso de policía voluntario’. La Prensa, 22 March 2024. Retrieved from: https://www.laprensani.com/2024/03/22/nacionales/3296083-nos-sacan-de-las-aulas-a-tomar-armas-docente-habla-de-la-obligacion-impuesta-para-curso-de-policia-voluntario

^[10] Direct communication with the young Indigenous leader whose name we omit for fear of reprisals by police authorities, 22 July 2024.

^[11] National Police Weapon Carrying Certificate dated 24 October 2024. National Police of Nicaragua. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C2z_d58OU6VAOyUNKTQ6W6r72ey6fQQ2/view?usp=sharing See also: Confidential. (16 February 2024). Policía persigue a 27 guardabosques indígenas mayangnas defensores de territorios. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrw_IxksSTo

^[12] During 2004, four other volunteer rangers received an opinion from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on their release and compensation for damages. Previously, in 2023, they had received Precautionary and Provisional Measures from the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights ordering their release but the State had not complied. For more information, see: Opinion No. 30/2024, regarding Ignacio Celso Lino, Argüello Celso Lino, Donald Andrés Bruno Arcángel and Dionisio Robins Zacarías (Nicaragua). Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its 100^th session, 26-30 August 2024. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/detention-wg/opinions/session100/a-hrc-wgad-2024-30-nicaragua-advance-edited.pdf See also: IACHR. Resolution No. 20/2023. Precautionary Measures No. 738-22, D.R.Z., D.A.B.A., A.C.L. and I.C.L. with respect of Nicaragua, 13 April 2023. https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/decisiones/mc/2023/res_20-23_mc_738-22_ni_es.pdf. And IACHR Court. (30 July 2023). Corte Interamericana ordena al Estado de Nicaragua liberar inmediatamente a cuatro indígenas mayangna recluidos en la prisión “La Modelo”. Press Release https://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/comunicados/cp_42_2023.pdf#:~:text=La%20Corte%20Interamericana%20de%20Derechos%20Humanos%20ha%20notificado,Modelo%E2%80%9D%2C

^[13] Incidente de Nulidad caso Bruno. (05 April 2024). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1citV5NvmZq6xD451axvm-udOyXEnHidF/view?usp=sharing See also: Recurso de Apelación caso Brunos. (29 April 2024). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t5mC-AC9WkAtTbaFsgMGiJH0kUh4EQx3/view?usp=sharing

^[14] Notice of Sentencing in the Bruno Case. (03 April 2024). https://drive.google.com/file/d/16bwXrMc2codr8GZP287PSOno4H_0qHAg/view?usp=sharing

^[15] “Detención de guardabosques mayangna es ‘represalia’ por denunciar invasión de colonos”. Divergentes, 15 August 2023. https://www.divergentes.com/represalia-contra-mayangnas-colonos/ 

^[16] “Comunitarios del territorio Mayangna Sauni As condenan criminalización de guardaparques”. Divergentes, 19 August 2023. https://www.divergentes.com/comunitarios-del-territorio-mayangna-sauni-as-condenan-criminalizacion-de-guardaparques/

^[17] “La invasión de colonos que obliga a indígenas a huir de sus hogares”. Onda Local, La Prensa and Connectas, 06 February 2024. https://ondalocalni.com/multimedia/161-invasion-colonos-obliga-indigenas-huir-hogares/ See also: Global Forest Watch. “Nicaragua”.

https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/NIC/?lang=en

^[18] Monitoring by the Center for Legal Assistance to Indigenous Peoples (CALPI) in Mayangna Sauni As (TMSA) territory during the years 2013-2024. For more detail: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17ZlBJoAy6XWZvcDyN_SqYfnk8YYdr956/view?usp=sharing

^[19] Ulises. “Colonos asesinan a joven indígena en Sauni As”. Onda Local, 23 December 2024.https://ondalocalni.com/noticias/3053-colonos-asesinan-joven-indigena-sauni-as/ See also: Revista Caribe. “Asesinato de jóven mayangna Roy Blandón Davis”. Facebook, 23 December 2024. https://www.facebook.com/100077038736358/videos/asesinato-de-j%C3%B3ven-mayangna-roy-bland%C3%B3n-davis/1146674563006489/?rdid=gvRdeP6qxO9dnu02

^[20] “Dos muertos y tres heridos deja incursión de colonos armados en una comunidad miskita del Caribe Norte”. Despacho 505, 04 November 2024. https://www.despacho505.com/nacionales/23628-colonos-matan-comunidades-indigenas-nicaragua/ See also: “Asesinan a tres indígenas miskitos en el Caribe Norte de Nicaragua por conflictos de tierras”. 100 Noticias, 13 November 2024. https://100noticias.com.ni/nacionales/135374-asesinan-tres-indigenas-miskitos-caribe-norte/ And, Canal 10 Nicaragua. “Ataque armado deja dos muertos y tres heridos”. YouTube, 04 November 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziKIYQDkD9Q

^[21] “On Thursday, 07 November 2024, Dennis Benitez Patron, a native of the community of Mukuswas, Mayangna Sauni Arungka (Matumgbak) Territory, died in the early hours on the Rosita-Bonanza road. Dennis was Vice-President of the Indigenous Territorial Government (ITG) of Matumgbak. Although the authorities stated that it was an accident, some believe that he was murdered. He was an agricultural engineer and had just graduated from law school. A few weeks previously, he and his team had won a hearing regarding land that some settlers were occupying and they suspect that it was these same people that murdered him.” Direct communication with community member who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

^[22] “Dos muertos y tres heridos deja incursión de colonos armados en una comunidad miskita del Caribe Norte”. Despacho 505, 04 November 2024. https://www.despacho505.com/nacionales/23628-colonos-matan-comunidades-indigenas-nicaragua/

^[23] Direct communication with Indigenous leaders and authorities whose names are omitted for fear of reprisals by the authorities, February 2024.

^[24] Prilaka. “Prilaka ante la epidemia de femicidios”. Facebook, 27 May 2024. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=472296571827580&set=pcb.472296655160905&locale=tr_TR See also: “Doble asesinato en el Caribe Norte: una mujer miskita y su pareja que trabajaban en una finca de Waspám”. Despacho 505, 07 November 2024. https://www.despacho505.com/nacionales/23744-doble-asesinato-caribe-norte-miskita/

^[25] “Segundo femicidio registrado en menos de una semana en el municipio de Puerto Cabezas”. Prilaka, 06 May 2024. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=459616683095569&set=a.198726752517898

^[26] Güegüense. “Joven miskita asesinada con saña en el Caribe Norte”. Onda Local, 06 May 2024.  https://ondalocalni.com/noticias/2748-feminicidio-miskita-caribe-norte-nicaragua/ See also: “Colonos asesinan a mujer miskita que defendía comunidades indígenas en Puerto Cabezas”. 100% Noticias, 05 May 2024. https://100noticias.com.ni/nacionales/131307-colonos-asesinan-mujer-miskita-caribe-nicaragua/

^[27] “Consternación en Laguna de Perlas: joven es encontrada ahorcada en su cuarto”. Nicaragua Investiga, June 2024. Retrieved from: https://nicaraguainvestiga.com/nacion/147005-consternacion-en-laguna-de-perlas-joven-es-encontrada-ahorcada-en-su-cuarto/

^[28] “Indígenas nicaragüenses exiliados en Costa Rica”. Debates Indígenas, 01 October 2024. https://debatesindigenas.org/2024/10/01/indigenas-nicaraguenses-exiliados-en-costa-rica/ See also: Olivares, Iván. “Líderes miskitos huyen de la violencia y se refugian en Costa Rica. Confidencial, 10 April 2022. https://confidencial.digital/nacion/lideres-miskitos-huyen-de-la-violencia-y-se-refugian-en-costa-rica/

^[29] Nicaragua Actual. “Voces y realidades de los pueblos indígenas de la Costa Moskitia (Caribe) de Nicaragua”. YouTube, 09 August 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_sLfKcAAPw

^[30] CETCAM. Agenda de acción para la protección de mujeres indígenas. https://www.cetcam.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Diptico_Esp.pdf

Tags: Youth, Human rights