YATAMA

Sons of Mother Earth
Yapti Tasba Masraka Nanih Aslatakanka
AbbreviationYATAMA
Foundedearly 1988
Dissolved4 October 2023
Preceded byMISURA/KISAN
HeadquartersBilwi
IdeologyIndigenism
Miskito interests
Afro-Nicaraguan interests
Regionalism
ColorsMaroon, green
Seats in the National Assembly
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Yapti Tasba Masraka Nanih Aslatakanka (lit.'Sons of Mother Earth'; YATAMA) was an indigenous party mainly active on Nicaragua's Atlantic coast. YATAMA had its roots in the MISURASATA (Miskito, Sumo and Rama Sandinista Alliance) and the MISURA/KISAN organisations. In 1988, in response to the Central American peace accords, the remnants of MISURASATA and MISURA/KISAN in Honduras, Costa Rica and Miami reorganized as YATAMA, united by the traditional Miskitu leaders Steadman Fagoth and Brooklyn Rivera.

YATAMA participated in several regional elections since 1990. Its best electoral result was in the autonomous elections on the Caribbean Coast in 1990 where they won 26 Regional Council member seats (out of 90). The party was in an alliance with the FSLN from 2006 until 2014.

In 4 October, 2023, the party had its legal status revoked by the Supreme Electoral Council of Nicaragua merely days after its only representative in the National Assembly, Brooklyn Rivera [es], was detained by Nicaraguan Police for charges never stated.[1]

No information of Rivera's whereabouts or wellbeing has been made public by the Sandinista government since despite repeated demands from his exiled daughter, Tininiska Rivera, and human rights organizations.[2] His case has thus been described as an instance of "forced disappearance" by Nicaraguan opposition media and human rights organizations.[3]

YATAMA regional president Elizabeth Enríquez in 2017
  1. ^ "Ortega's Elimination of the Yatama Party: A mistake of the past and present". Confidencial. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Hija de Brooklyn Rivera denuncia su desaparición forzada ante la CIDH". La Prensa (in Spanish). 1 March 2024.
  3. ^ "Organismos y familiares denuncian la desaparición de exdiputado indígena que criticó a Ortega". Voz de América (in Spanish). 2024-04-24. Retrieved 2024-07-30.