Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) is investigating whether a hit squad tied to Nicaragua’s Ortega-Murillo regime is targeting exiled critics on its soil. The probe began after Roberto Samcam, a 66-year-old retired Nicaraguan army major and outspoken opponent of President Daniel Ortega, was gunned down in his San Vicente de Moravia apartment on June 19, 2025. The killing has sent shockwaves through Costa Rica’s Nicaraguan exile community, home to over 100,000 refugees since Nicaragua’s 2018 protests.
Samcam was at home near Plaza Lincoln when a gunman, posing as a deliveryman, knocked at 7:30 a.m. When Samcam answered, the attacker fired eight shots into his chest, abdomen, and limbs with a 9mm pistol, then fled on a motorbike with an accomplice. OIJ director Randall Zúñiga called the attack “particularly targeted” but cautioned it’s too early to confirm regime involvement.
“We’re chasing the shooter and his partner, and we’re digging into whether someone orchestrated this from afar,” Zúñiga said. He pointed to a chilling precedent: in January 2024, Nicaraguan exile Joao Maldonado survived a shooting in San Pedro de Montes de Oca, one of two attempts on his life since 2021. “Another Ortega critic was hit with gunfire right here,” the OIJ noted, raising fears of a pattern.
Samcam had long warned of such threats. He claimed Ortega’s regime ran a network of assassins from the Nicaraguan embassy in San José, led by the army’s Directorate of Defense Information. While the embassy link lacks hard evidence, Samcam told media the regime deployed agents to monitor and attack exiles after the 2018 protests, which killed over 300 and drove thousands to Costa Rica.
A UN report from February 2025 backs this, documenting Nicaragua’s transnational repression, including surveillance and violence against critics abroad. Other exiles—Rodolfo Rojas in 2022 and Jaime Luis Ortega in 2024—were killed in Costa Rica, and Maldonado’s attacks point to a coordinated effort, possibly tied to Ortega’s Sandinista network.
The OIJ is under pressure to deliver answers. Former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla called Samcam’s murder “shocking” for its “impunity” and urged it be a “top priority.” Exiled activists, like Dora María Téllez, warn of a “night of long knives” by a weakening regime. The U.S. State Department offered support to hold “those behind” the killing accountable.
Samcam, stripped of Nicaraguan citizenship in 2023 and granted Spanish citizenship, was a key voice against Ortega’s military repression. His 2022 book, Ortega: El calvario de Nicaragua, exposed the regime’s abuses. As the OIJ probes, exiles fear Costa Rica, once a safe haven, is no longer secure. The investigation could redefine how Costa Rica protects those fleeing Ortega’s wrath.
