Medardo Mairena
Date of birth: 01 December 1977
Arrested on: 05 July 2021
Current: In exile in the USA since February 2023

Medardo Mairena was born on December 1, 1977 in Nueva Guinea, Nicaragua. He is a farmer and plays a leading role in the “anti-canal movement”, which opposes the construction of a canal connection between the Pacific and the Atlantic. Mairena was a candidate for the presidential election in November 2021, but was forced to abandon his candidacy when he was arrested on 5 July 2021. One day after his arrest, he was charged with “incitement to foreign interference in internal affairs” and “violation of the highest interests of the nation”, among other charges, and sentenced to 13 years in prison in February 2022 on these charges. Medardo Mairena 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

Mairena was the sixth presidential candidate arrested by Daniel Ortega’s government. On the night of July 5, 2021, a group of police officers entered his home without an arrest warrant and took him to the Directorate of National Legal Assistance. The Directorate of National Legal Assistance is also popularly known as “the new Chipote” because it is used as an alternative to hold a large number of political prisoners due to the overcrowding of the “real” El Chipote prison.

Mairena has been held in solitary confinement since then and is not allowed to receive visitors. His lawyer was intimidated and threatened several times before she was also arrested. She is being held in solitary confinement under conditions similar to Mairena’s, and she is also denied visits and phone calls. During his detention, Mairena has to endure a large number of interrogations. Like many other political prisoners, Mairena has already lost several kilos of weight in prison.

Condemnation

On February 18, 2022, Mairena was sentenced to 13 years in prison. The reason given for the verdict was alleged to be “carrying out acts that undermine the independence, sovereignty and self-determination of Nicaragua, incitement to foreign interference in internal affairs, requesting military interventions, organizing (financed by foreign powers) to carry out acts of terrorism and destabilization.”

Background

Mairena has been a member of the “Anti-Channel Movement” since 2013. This is an organization of farmers who, due to the serious consequences for the environment, oppose the construction of a canal that would connect the Atlantic to the Pacific. When protests against the construction began across the country in 2018, Mairena was part of the dialogue between the opposition and the government of Daniel Ortega. At the time, he said to Ortega: “I want you to know, Mr. President, that it is the peasants who are demanding justice, because we have demanded justice in many scenarios, and we have not been heard. We have joined forces to support the young people. We have no weapons, we are a peaceful organization.”

Mairena was arrested on 13 July 2018 for allegedly organising an attack in Morrito that killed four police officers. However, there are videos and media reports that show that Mairena took part in a demonstration in Managua on the day of the attack and therefore could not have been at the scene of the attack. Government media also reported that the confiscation of computers had uncovered a “gigantic terrorist and coup plot”. However, an IT expert could not confirm during the trial that incriminating information was found on the farmers’ computers. Mairena was eventually sentenced to 216 years in prison and repeatedly tortured during his imprisonment. He was released on 11 June 2019 thanks to an amnesty law that came into force in December 2018.

As of August 2024