Listen 🎧: Fighting The Nicaraguan Dictatorship with Bitcoin, feat. Felix Maradiaga
“I think [bitcoin] is inevitable.” – Felix Maradiaga, political activist.
New podcast episode is out: “Fighting dictatorships with Bitcoin, feat. Felix Maradiaga.”
**Reminder: you’ll soon be receiving emails from Notes From The Margin instead of The Misfit.
Felix Maradiaga was considered to be so dangerous that Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, imprisoned him and put him in solitary confinement. His crime? Announcing he’d run for the presidency in Nicaragua.
He was held in complete darkness 24/7, with little food but without water (except for when his sister dropped some off, which she did every single day), without reading materials (like his Bible), or being able to talk to his wife (Berta) and daughter (Alejandra).
For 20 months, he endured "the worst kinds of human rights abuses” in a Nicaraguan prison known to be one of the worst in Latin America.
I had to ask him: “What do you attribute your survival to?”
“I think that suffering is inevitable in life. And when your suffering has a purpose, when your suffering has a mission, it’s easier.” – Felix Maradiaga
Felix reminded me that having a purpose for your life is important for self-preservation. Purpose helps us bear the unbearable and survive the unsurvivable.
In talking with Felix, it is so clear to me that he is a man of faith and conviction. So, I wonder, what exactly can stop a man with a sense of purpose and faith in God, who endured solitary confinement and came out the other side alive?
Could it be possible that a dictator’s Achilles heel is a man assuming meaning and purpose and non-violent ways to resist repression – someone like Felix? I’m starting to think so.
For all this talk, it’s time to introduce you to Felix.
Who Is Felix Maradiaga?
Felix Maradiaga is a Nicaraguan political activist dedicated to fostering peace, democracy, and the rule of law in his beloved Nicaragua.
After announcing he would run for the presidency in 2021, he was placed under house arrest by Daniel Ortega’s government. Later, he would be arrested under charges of treason. As if that wasn’t enough, he was placed in a maximum-security prison where he was held for 611 days.
“I endured things I am not yet prepared to talk about in public.” – Felix Maradiaga
After relentless advocacy for his freedom by his wife Berta, Felix was freed on February 2023.
I’m not sure free is the right word though because he was expelled from Nicaragua and his citizenship was revoked, “just to give you a taste of what that government will do to people who tell the truths. They will even make them stateless” – Thor Halvorssen, Founder and CEO of Human Rights Foundation.
Nicaragua is one of the three fully authoritarian regimes in the Western Hemisphere, with the other two being Cuba and Venezuela. Under Daniel Ortega’s authoritarian regime, the Nicaraguan people have seen their rights and liberties stripped away and their democracy dismantled.
“Daniel Ortega came back to power in 2007 and since then has been inflicting a lot of pain on the Nicaraguan community. He has expelled out of the country over 3,000 non-profits, including many charitable organizations. He shut down 20 universities. He has killed close to 400 people, including 45 students. He has persecuted the Catholic Church and currently, my own bishop, Monseñor Rolando Álvarez, who spoke many times for my release is currently in prison facing a sentence of 26 years in prison.” – Felix Maradiaga
To this day, Felix continues to fight for Nicaragua’s democracy and freedom. He’s been traveling, telling the world about Ortega’s dictatorship while fighting for Nicaragua’s democracy, and exploring tools, like Bitcoin, that might help liberate Nicaraguan people.
“Of course, [autocratic governments] will like to control the financial system. And they see this decentralized network [with Bitcoin] – meaning that no single entity or government can control or manipulate these transactions – as a problem. I think it's just a matter of time… I think [Bitcoin] is inevitable.” – Felix Maradiaga.
It’s only since being freed that Felix has been studying Bitcoin as a tool that helps Nicaraguans escape the crushing hand of Daniel Ortega’s regime and safeguard Nicaraguan people’s rights. He’s also interested in exploring how the Nicaraguan people might come to learn and adopt this apolitical, decentralized, global money.
Now I don’t want to share more about his thoughts on Bitcoin because I’d like for you to listen to him talk about it. But here’s what I will say…
I suspect we’ll see more political activists and human rights defenders – like Felix – explore the intersection between human rights and financial freedom. With time, they’ll realize that if we don’t have financial freedom, we don’t really have political freedom, or freedom of speech, which are all issues they care about deeply. No matter what fight they take on, they’ll see that they must also take up the fight for financial freedom.
“I think that human rights defenders around the world will discover the enormous potential of Bitcoin.” – Felix Maradiaga
To explore this topic further, I invited Felix Maradiaga to speak with me.
What You’ll Learn From My Conversation with Felix Maradiaga.
During our 45-minute conversation, Felix shared with me:
The recent history of Nicaragua -- from democracy to dictatorship
His time in solitary confinement and how he endured his time in prison
Why dictators love to control a country's financial rails
How he was the first person to have his financial assets frozen under Ortega's regime and how later Ortega would replicate this strategy to other dissidents
What he’s learned about Bitcoin and why he sees it as a tool that protects people's human rights
Bitcoin adoption for activists and the Nicaraguan people
And the strength and resilience of the Nicaraguan people under oppression
Check out the full conversation “Fighting Dictatorships with Bitcoin, feat. Felix Maradiaga.” You can listen to it on Spotify or Fountain.
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Félix decided to play fair with a dictator, and his peaceful transition to democracy is dragging its’ feet, 5 years.