(AI Translated) Félix Maradiaga was born in Jinotega on September 23, 1976. Between 1997 and 2001 he served as director of the Office for the Reintegration of Former Combatants, thereby contributing to the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration efforts of members of the Nicaraguan guerrilla. In 2004 he was appointed Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense of Nicaragua. Starting in 2011, he worked as academic coordinator of the Institute for Civil Society Leadership. In 2017 he was appointed Executive Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Public Policy (IEEPP), where he focused his work on researching the impact of corruption in public administration.

In 2018 he joined the movement National Blue and White Unity (UNAB), one of the main opposition groups formed in response to the protests and repression by the government of Daniel Ortega. In September 2018 he testified before the UN Security Council on the government’s repression. Subsequently a detention order was issued against him, accusing him of “organized crime and financing terrorism,” which forced him to leave the country, returning in September 2019.

He ran for president in the 2021 Nicaraguan national elections, but was arrested on June 8 2021 and released on February 9 2023, when he was expelled together with 221 other political prisoners to the United States.

On October 15 2024 he was appointed president of the Liberal Network of Latin America (RELIAL). On November 18 2025 he was appointed president of the World Liberty Congress, which brings together pro‑democracy activists and opposition movements worldwide. On November 24 2025, from exile, he announced the founding of a new opposition party called “La Ruta del Cambio.”