As part of the negotiations after many years of internal conflict, in 1987 the Nicaraguan government created the Autonomous Regions of the Atlantic (RAA-North and RAA-South) and conferred its management to the indigenous Miskito and other ethnic communities. These lands are protected under the Law 445 which recognizes the "indigenous communal property" and established these lands as non-derogable, inalienable, non-attachable and tax exempt (Art. 3 "Las tierras comunales no se pueden gravar y son inembargables, inalienables e imprescriptibles"). The Political Constitution of Nicaragua establishes that these indigenous lands cannot be sold, bought or exchanged. However, illegal land trafficking is threatened Miskito´s livelihoods since the last decade. The increase of settlers or "colonos" in the area has provoked land disputes. Settlers are made up by small peasants but also by large farmers willing to expand their businesses, wood smugglers and ranchers. The land conflict has reached high levels of violence: fire attacks on indigenous communities, kidnappings, tortures, and murders are some of the violent acts denounced by Miskito. They blame the attacks on "settlers" who are occupying their ancestral territories -sometimes- with the support of the local government authorities. According to an in-depth report (1) both officials from the official party Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) and Yatama political party are part of the illegal land sales. In 2015 settlers attacked with fire the Polo Paiwa community. The inhabitants ran away to other near communities. Due to the violence and displacements, indigenous groups have crossed the borderline looking for refuge in Honduras. According to a Center for Justice and Human Rights (Centro por la Justicia y Derechos Humanos de la Costa Atlántica de Nicaragua- CEJUDHCAN) the land conflict has left 3,000 displaced people and at least 32 Miskitos have been killed. Misko´s claim for the Tasba Pri which means "Free Land" to continue their ancestral activities such as agriculture, fishing, and artisanal mining. For Miskitos, these events hark back to another time, when they battled the leftist Sandinista government in a quest to keep their land in the civil war in the 1980´s. 

The Miskito is the largest indigenous group on the Caribbean coast (up to 300,000 Miskito).