Berta Valle (born c. 1984) is a Nicaraguan television presenter and human rights activist. She is the wife of former 2021 presidential pre-candidate

Félix Maradiaga Félix Alejandro Maradiaga Blandón (born 23 September 1976) is a Nicaraguan academic and political activist. From 2002 to 2006, he was Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense under President Enrique Bolaños. Maradiaga is the founding co- ...

, who was detained by the government of

Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguans, Nicaraguan revolutionary and politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the ...

on June 8, 2021.

Early life and education

Valle, born circa 1984, grew up with two brothers. She holds a BS in Business Economics from the Catholic University of Nicaragua and an MBA from INCAE Business School in

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicara ...

. In 2003, she was crowned queen of the Carnaval Alegría por la Vida.

Career

Valle spent eight years working as a television presenter on the morning show Primera Hora. She also worked as a station manager at

Vos TV Vos TV, formerly ESTV, is a Nicaraguan terrestrial TV channel (cable until 2010) broadcasting from the city of Managua. Before it was assigned a terrestrial frequency, it was known as ESTV and ran exclusively on ESTESA's cable network. History ...

, and on a show she created in 2015 with Xiomara Blandino called Berta y Xiomara: Todo en Positivo. In 2016, Valle was nominated as an independent to represent Managua in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

by the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) as part of its National Coalition for Democracy. She was the first candidate listed on the party’s electoral slate, but Nicaragua’s Supreme Court, controlled by Ortega loyalists, disqualified the party’s electoral coalition and Valle was blocked from running. Since 2019, she has led Voces en Libertad, a nonprofit promoting cooperation among members of Nicaragua’s independent media who fled the country following the 2018 sociopolitical crisis. On June 8, 2021, her husband

became part of a wave of arrests of opposition pre-candidates for president in the

2021 Nicaraguan general election General elections were held in Nicaragua on 7 November 2021 to elect the President, the National Assembly and members of the Central American Parliament. President Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front sought re-election, ...

. Valle has coordinated defense teams supporting him in and outside of Nicaragua. On July 27, 2021, the Nicaraguan Public Ministry and Nicaraguan National Police announced an investigation of Valle under controversial Law 1055, accusing her of being a “traitor to the homeland,” based on her international advocacy for pressure to release her detained husband. Victoria Cárdenas, wife of

Juan Sebastián Chamorro Juan Sebastián Chamorro García (born 1971) is a Nicaraguan economist, businessman and politician. He was a pre-candidate for president in the 2021 Nicaraguan general election until he was detained in a wave of arrests of opposition candidates ...

, another detained candidate, was similarly accused.

Personal life

She married Maradiaga circa 2006. Since 2018, Valle has been living in exile in the United States with the couple’s daughter (born circa 2014).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valle, Berta Living people Nicaraguan activists Nicaraguan women activists Television presenters 1984 births