Bosawas protest following a murder in the Mayangna indigenous communities

On the morning of Monday, April 24, 2023, another armed attack was registered by the settlers that invaded the Mayangna Sauni Indigenous Territory in Nicaragua. There was a reported attack against community member Bernabé Palacio Hernández.

Hernández, his youngest son, and his wife left their house the morning of Monday, April 24 to do agricultural work when they were shot while working on their land. After hearing the gunshots, his wife and son hid in the mountains and managed to get out to the community to warn the community about the attack. The inhabitants immediately went to the Musawas community to investigate.

Hours later, a search team found Bernabé Palacio Hernández murdered.

In the afternoon of April 25th, a commission from the National Police arrived with additional members of the Municipality as well as the Head of the Mining District of the National Police to investigate what happened.

At the same time, there was a peaceful protest to demand Territorial security, disarmament of the armed groups that operate in the territory, and that the state of Nicaragua apply the fifth stage of sanitation of the Mayangna Territories sanction and bring to justice those responsible for the events that occurred from 2017 to 2023.

So far in 2023 there have been 4 attacks perpetrated in an atrocious, criminal manner against the Mayangna indigenous communities. The community demands that:

• We ask the state of Nicaragua to provide protection and security at the territory level.
• Disarm the criminal groups that operate in the territory.
• Capture those responsible for these criminal acts and genocides.
• Apply the fifth stage of sanitation of the Mayangna Territories.
• We request that the Bosawas [Beco] Ecological Battalion maintain constant patrolling in the Reserve in order to detect incidents that may occur.
• We request the international community to provide protection to the territories that are being threatened, dispossessed, displaced, and massacred.

A Press Release was given on the 25th day of April 2023, Mayangna Sauni As Territory, Bosawas RACCN, on behalf of:

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
OMCT
UNESCO in Spanish
Cepal
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
ONU
IACHR
Center for Justice and International Law-CEJIL
Calpi | Legal Assistance Center for Indigenous Peoples
ICCA Latin America