Nicaraguan Indian Leader Reports Plot to Assassinate Him

Brooklyn Rivera, leader of the Miskito Indians fighting Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, said Tuesday that he has been warned of a plot to kill him when he returns to Central America from a European tour.

At a London news conference, Rivera said he was told that the plot was organized by right-wing Nicaraguan rebels and was to be carried out by Cuban exiles in in Miami.

Although the contras and the Miskito Indian guerrillas are both opposed to Nicaragua’s left-wing government, Rivera stressed that there is no link between the two groups.

He said he thought the assassination plot was to punish him for engaging in off-and-on negotiations with Sandinista authorities to get them to recognize Indian autonomy.

“The aim of the plot is to accuse the Sandinistas of killing me,” he said. “But other forces are interested in my death. The (Nicaraguan) left is also very interested, and there is always a threat also from the CIA or the Sandinistas.”