Armed attackers kill father and son in Nicaragua's Bosawás Biosphere Reserve

An armed group of approximately 15 settlers launched an attack on the Dimanwas community within the Mayangna Sauni As territory in Nicaragua's North Caribbean Coast. The incident, which occurred between the night of October 18 and the morning of October 19, 2026, resulted in the deaths of Dionicio Hernández Bruno and his son, Wilmer Hernández Smith.

The Asociación Mayangna para el Desarrollo Social (AMDES) reported that the attackers also kidnapped four men, though the whereabouts of two remain unknown. During the incursion, the group reportedly set fire to at least four inhabited homes and shot livestock.

AMDES has issued an urgent public complaint, accusing the Nicaraguan state of failing to protect indigenous populations and ignoring a long-standing pattern of violence against Mayangna communities. The organization noted that such attacks are part of a broader trend of non-indigenous settlers encroaching on ancestral lands in the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve.