Tribal members seek justice for the death of Mario Leman, an indigenous leader who was killed in Nicaragua amid deadly land disputes in Nicaragua. Photo by Elizabeth Romero / Twitter

Members of tribes in Nicaragua are fleeing their homelands in response to an influx of newcomers whose land purchases are considered illegal by the government.

Some are relocating to different communities within Nicaragua. But others have moved to Honduras as the conflict has turned deadly, the Associated Press reported.

“Our people are going to (Honduras) because food is becoming scarce, there is no medicine. ... The rice harvest is on our lands but we can’t go there because the colonists will kill us,” Lacio Rivas, a leader of a Miskito community, told the AP.

At least nine people have died and 20 have been wounded this month in clashes with the newcomers, the AP reported. The human rights group Centro Nicaraguese de los Derechos Humanos put the tally of deaths higher, at about 15.

"More than 50 percent of the northern Caribbean is overrun by settlers and the government does nothing," Brooklin Rivera, a leader of the indigenous YATAMA organization, said in the CENIDH posting.

President Daniel Ortega has condemned the influx of settlers to the area, located on the Caribbean coast. The region is home to the Miskito, Mayagna and Rama peoples.

Get the Story:
Deadly Nicaragua land conflict displaces hundreds (AP 9/30)

Related Stories:
Land conflicts lead to deaths of tribal members in Nicaragua (09/18)