8,000 marijuana plants burned in Pauniwás, Wiwilí; two caretakers held
Nicaragua's army seized and burned 8,000 two-metre marijuana plants sown among maize in Pauniwás, Wiwilí, Jinotega, on 6 September 2023, detaining two men who it said tended the plot. Both were handed to the authorities for prosecution.
🇳🇮 Pauniwás, Wiwilí municipality, Jinotega department · Nicaragua
On 6 September 2023 soldiers of Nicaragua’s 6th Regional Military Command seized
and burned 8,000 marijuana plants in the community of Pauniwás, Wiwilí
municipality, Jinotega department.[1]The army said the plants stood two
metres tall and were sown among a maize crop.[1]During the operation troops
detained Nicaraguan citizens Bismark López Martínez, 36, and Adolfo Martínez,
32, the army saying the two cared for the plot.[1]The army said both
detainees were handed over to the corresponding authorities.[1]
The wire agency EFE reported that the two men were handed to the competent
authorities for the judicialisation of the case, but not the evidence, because
it had been incinerated.[2]EFE said the operation brought the army’s
marijuana seizures in the preceding 12 days to 20,000 plants, with six people
detained in connection with the plots.[2]
Photos and video
Army photograph published with information note 067/2023 on the marijuana plot seized and burned in Pauniwás, Wiwilí. Photo: Ejército de Nicaragua (cortesía)Photo details
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Source: El 19 DigitalSecond army photograph from note 067/2023 on the seizure and incineration of the Pauniwás marijuana plants. Photo: Ejército de Nicaragua (cortesía)Photo details
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Source: El 19 DigitalThird army photograph published with note 067/2023 on the Pauniwás plot, where two caretakers were detained. Photo: Ejército de Nicaragua (cortesía)Photo details
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Source: El 19 DigitalFourth army photograph from the Pauniwás eradication, in which soldiers seized and burned 8,000 plants. Photo: Ejército de Nicaragua (cortesía)Photo details
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Source: El 19 DigitalFifth army photograph from the Pauniwás operation, showing the marijuana seized before incineration. Photo: Ejército de Nicaragua (cortesía)Photo details
No weight, cultivated area or value for the 8,000 plants was published.
Neither account reports charges, a custody ruling or a court outcome after the two men were handed to the authorities.
The army's 20,000 plants and six detainees for the preceding 12 days are a running total of several operations and are not counted in this report's figures.
The only accounts found are the army's own note, carried by El 19 Digital, and an EFE wire story based on the same statement; no independent reporting was found.
No mapping of the community of Pauniwás was published in the sources, so the coordinates are those of the Wiwilí de Jinotega municipal centre rather than the plot.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in El 19 Digital: The army carried out the operation under the state strategy Muro de Contención, or Containment Wall, and said the COVID-19 protection measures ordered by the Health Ministry, MINSA, were followed during the seizure and burning.
Nicaraguan Army troops detained a 22-year-old passenger on the Rio Coco in Ayapal, Jinotega, during a river control operation. They seized five bags of marijuana weighing 1,975.3 grams from a plastic bucket he carried.
On 27 October 2026, Nicaraguan police at El Guasaule found 608 packages with 1,907 kg of cannabis hidden in a Mexico-to-Costa Rica truck. They arrested Guatemalan driver Fredy Bladimiro Recinos Vargas, 52, and seized the tractor and trailer.
On 20 August 2025 Nicaragua’s army seized and burned 6,250 marijuana plants in La Campana, Wamblán, Wiwilí, Jinotega, and detained Bismark Antonio Díaz González, 32, who it said tended the plot, handing him to the authorities.
On 16 September 2023 Nicaragua's army seized and burned 3,500 marijuana plants sown among maize in Caño Negro, Wiwilí, Jinotega, and detained Cristian de Jesús Poveda Tinoco, 33, who it said tended the plot, handing him to the authorities for prosecution.
