The Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) carried out multiple raids on Friday morning to capture suspects in the murder of Roberto Samcam, a former Nicaraguan military officer and exile in Costa Rica, which occurred on June 19 in Vázquez de Coronado.
The proceedings seek to identify those responsible and the intermediaries who participated in the planning and execution of the crime, considered high-impact due to its possible political background. OIJ Director Randall Zúñiga explained that the investigation led to the location of the intermediary and the gunman involved in the murder.
“On the day Samcam was murdered, we identified an intermediary who acted between the criminal group that carried out the killing and the mastermind, who we have not yet identified. This individual was with the gunman and another driver who transported them by car and motorcycle,” Zúñiga said.
The official added that one of the detainees is a 20-year-old man named Carvajal, who is believed to be the shooter. The intermediary’s partner, whose last name is Chávez, was also arrested. She allegedly paid ₡50,000 (about $100) for the transportation of those involved.
“What we are clear about is that the motive was a contract killing. If we wanted to determine any political motivation, we would have to advance the investigation, but with this, we have already arrested the perpetrators,” Zúñiga noted.
Attorney General Carlo Díaz highlighted the speed with which the case progressed and did not rule out a political motive.
“One line of investigation points to this apparently being an order from the Nicaraguan Army. We are not going to settle for arresting those who carried out the execution; we are going to pursue this to the very end in an attempt to determine who ordered this murder,” Díaz said.
This crime, along with that of Joao Maldonado, highlights the executions and actions of these leaders to attack, even in Costa Rica, those who denounce the reality of life in Nicaragua. Both Nicaraguans were allegedly killed on the orders of the Nicaraguan Army, under the command of Daniel Ortega.
The United Nations (UN) Group of Experts on Human Rights in Nicaragua determined in a report published in February that the state has committed crimes against humanity and human rights violations, even outside its borders.
“The government’s repressive actions transcend the country’s borders and affect opponents or those perceived as such abroad,” the document states. Maldonado was the first to suffer repression. In September 2021, he survived an ambush in Escazú, where he was shot 13 times and spent several weeks in the hospital.
On January 10, 2024, he was not so fortunate. Two hitmen intercepted him in San Pedro while he was traveling with his girlfriend, Nadia Robleto. That day, the young industrial engineer was killed inside a vehicle.
Maldonado, who was 34 years old, actively participated in protests in Costa Rica against the regime. He was the son of Tomás Maldonado, a retired Army major who was imprisoned for 10 months for leading blockades in Carazo and who died in 2021 of natural causes. He was one of the founders of the Nicaraguan Exiles Unit (UEN) and had been in exile in Costa Rica since July 2018, along with other compatriots.
Samcam, on the other hand, died on June 19, in San Vicente de Moravia, after being shot eight times at the entrance to the apartment building where he lived.
He was a former Nicaraguan military officer and critic of the Ortega regime, born in Jinotepe, Carazo. He was 67 years old and an industrial engineer. In the 1980s, he joined the Sandinista Popular Army, where he rose to the rank of major and specialized in ground artillery.
In 1991, he retired as part of the PL3 demobilization plan. Since then, he had denounced human rights violations committed by the Nicaraguan army and police. In 2018, he went into exile in Costa Rica, where he worked as a teacher, consultant, political analyst, and critic of the regime.
