Felix Maradiaga
Date of birth: 23.09.1976
Arrested on: 08.06.2021
Current: In exile in the USA since February 2023

Felix Maradiaga was born on September 23, 1976 in Jinotega, Nicaragua. He is the founder and executive director of the Civil Society Leadership Institute in Nicaragua. Maradiaga ran for president for the Blue and White National Unity party. However, he had to give up his candidacy when he was arrested on 8 June 2021 after an interrogation at the Ministry of State in Managua. He is accused of “high treason, terrorism and supporting international sanctions against the government”. Felix Maradiaga was stripped of his citizenship and expelled from the country in February 2023, along with 221 other prisoners critical of the government. He has been in exile in the USA ever since.

Arrest and conditions of detention

The basis for Maradiaga’s arrest is a law passed by Ortega’s government in December 2020, ostensibly aimed at “defending Nicaragua’s sovereignty against hostile foreign influence.” Maradiaga is accused, among other things, of “inciting foreign interference in internal affairs and using funds of foreign powers to carry out terrorist acts”. On June 8, 2021, when he wanted to leave the prosecutor’s office after an interrogation, he was arrested by the police and taken to the “new Chipote prison”. The police building of the Directorate of Legal Assistance, in which more than 150 opposition politicians and critics of the regime are currently being held due to the overcrowding of the real El Chipote prison, is popularly referred to as the “new Chipote”.

Maradiaga was held in solitary confinement for a long time and denied contact with the outside world. It was not until September that his sister was allowed to visit him for the first time. The meeting was recorded by the prison authorities. Maradiaga has to endure a large number of interrogations and has already lost over 15 kilos in custody. His lawyer has also been detained since August 20, 2021.

Childhood and education

His father died when Maradiaga was still a child. The economic situation and the Civil War forced the family to make the difficult decision to send Maradiaga to the United States at the age of 12 without papers. He spent some time there in a refugee camp before being taken in by a Nicaraguan family in Florida, with whom he lived for two years.

In 1990, Maradiaga returned to Nicaragua and attended a Catholic school, where he was taught values such as non-violence, civic participation and democracy. His mentor during this time was the Archbishop of Managua, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes. After graduating from high school, he received a scholarship to Keiser University in Florida, where he studied political science and international relations. Maradiaga also studied law and political science at Yale and holds a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University. From 2002 to 2006, he was Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense of Nicaragua. He is also the founder of the non-governmental organization Civil Society Leadership Institute, which coordinates civil society initiatives in Nicaragua.

In September 2018, Felix Maradiaga reported to the United Nations Security Council on the repression of Ortega’s government. As a result, an arrest warrant was issued against him for “organized crime and terrorist financing”. He fled the country but returned to Nicaragua in September 2019.

As of August 2024