In Switzerland they expose the cruelty of the regime against eight Mayangna forest protectors
In La Prensa, March 21, 2026
Testimony gathered by La Prensa, after the Human Rights Council, indicates that “for much of the time they have their hands and feet chained”
Defenders from the Nicaragua Nunca Mas Human Rights Collective denounced in Switzerland the brutality of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo against eight Mayangna forest protectors in the recent session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations Organization (UN).
They have kept the forest protectors imprisoned for some years now, they are kept in isolation, and even spend “a lot of time with their hands and feet chained”, according to testimony gathered by this newspaper, after the session of the Council held in Geneva, Switzerland.
Since 2021 the forest rangers Argüello Celso Lino, Ignacio Celso Lino, Dionisio Robins Zacarías and Donald Andrés Bruno Arcángel remain in prison accused of participating in a massacre in the mine of Kiwakumbaih.
The police of the dictatorship hold them to be responsible, according to the web page of the World Organization Against Torture. This is despite the fact that the victims indicated that a group of non-indigenous men carried out the massacre.
Added to those four men are Tony Alberto, Rodrigo, Oliver and Evertz Antonio, all with the last name of Bruno, arbitrarily arrested on August 13, 2023 in the community of Musawas, located in the Mayangna territory of Sauni As, within the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve.
Two days later, the police once again presented them as “members of a supposed criminal gang identified as the Brunos”.
Nevertheless, the State Department said in February that the arrest was due to reprisals because the indigenous “bravely” denounced the illegal sale and rental of land.
They call for the liberation of the forest rangers
The Nicaragua Nunca Mas Human Rights Collective called for the liberation of the forest rangers, during the 61stperiod of the sessions of the Human Rights Council of the UN.
The lawyer Juan Carlos Arce denounced in Geneva that indigenous peoples “face the dispossession and usurpation of their territories as State policy.” The victims see themselves then forced to flee because of the persecution, as can be seen in the transmission that the Collective did through their social network accounts.
Arce explained in later declarations to La Prensa that the collective confirmed “a viciousness” toward the indigenous and afro descendent peoples, and particularly toward the arrested forest rangers. This is expressed in the subjection to cruel, inhuman, and degrading conditions, as well as the isolation and seizure of their territories.
“The arrested forest rangers have been imprisoned for two years and removed from their communities and region, which makes family visits difficult,” he emphasized and likewise lamented that they are not releasing them as they do others.
According to the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners, at least 46 people are currently in that situation. At least 1,488 have been recognized as such since 2018.
“Racism against indigenous political prisoners”
The environmentalist and president of the Río Foundation, Amaru Ruíz, is leading a campaign in favor of the liberation of the forest rangers and also participated in the session of the Human Rights Council of the UN. On his part, he insists that there is racism in the decision of the authorities.
We continue asking for the freedom of the Mayangna forest rangers. Unfortunately, none of the liberation [of prisoners] has taken into account indigenous peoples, and this shows the racism that exists against indigenous political prisoners, in this case the forest rangers,” Ruíz added to La Prensa.
They note “forms of punishment and torture”
The Mayangnas continue being subjected to torture and are in a very serious situation, in spite of the fact that the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has granted cautionary measures for some of them.
They have imposed life sentences on four of them, and the other four were given 25 years. They have been isolated and spend a lot of time with their hands and feet in chains as forms of punishment and torture. They have chronic health problems, one of them has cataracts which if are not operated on in time can leave them blind,” denounced a human rights defender who follows up on the issue of the forest rangers and who asked to remain anonymous.
In addition to these eight prisoners, the environmentalist Amaru Ruíz emphasized that the regime has a list of at least 27 forest rangers with an arrest order against them, and that some of their family members have had to go into exile out of fear of reprisals.
The demand for the freedom of the forest rangers and the rest of the political prisoners in the 61st session of the Human Rights Council of the UN happened minutes after the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) presented a “devastating” report in which they revealed the existence of a network of transnational repression in five countries, operated and financed by the regime with public funds.
During the period of sessions, victims and defenders from several organizations dialogued about the impact of the arbitrary arrests and forced disappearances. Telma Brenes, the daughter of retired Colonel Carlos Brenes, arbitrarily detained along with his wife by the regime; the former political prisoner Kevin Solís, shared a table with Alexandra Salazar, the president of the Legal Defense Unit, and Arlen Centeno, a defender of women´s rights. Carlos Quezada, the executive director of Race and Equality, acted as moderator and Arce also participated in that conversation.
The report also went into depth on the repression against women and the LGBTQ+ population and how the regime has adopted measures to silence them, dismantle feminist networks, deter the participation of these social actors in politics and other sectors.
