Costa Rican police arrest four suspects in the murder of Nicaraguan opposition leader Roberto Samcam

Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) arrested four suspects, including a 35-year-old man named Chaves, along with other alleged members of the network that facilitated the hitman’s access to the Naples condominium in San José, where Roberto Samcam was murdered on June 19, 2025.

The hitman, a young man in his 20s who posed as a deliveryman, remains at large, according to authorities.

Authorities continue to search for the perpetrators and indicate that the operation is linked to a well-organized criminal cell, possibly with political support from Nicaragua. However, there is still no judicial confirmation regarding the identity of all those responsible.

The murder was carried out in a planned and professional manner: the hitman took advantage of pending repairs to the entrance gates to enter unhindered and fire eight shots at point-blank range, preventing Samcam from reacting.

This crime is part of a campaign of extraterritorial repression against Nicaraguan opponents exiled in Costa Rica, and various international sources attribute it to the political interests of the Ortega-Murillo regime and military structures aimed at silencing critical voices.

There is a clear connection between the murder of Roberto Samcam and the attacks against Joao Maldonado in Costa Rica: both are part of a strategy of extraterritorial repression against Nicaraguan opponents, attributed to the Ortega-Murillo regime and the Nicaraguan Army.

Joao Maldonado, a prominent Nicaraguan opposition figure exiled in Costa Rica, has survived two brutal attacks attributed to political motivations linked to the Daniel Ortega regime and Sandinista Front structures. The Costa Rican judicial investigation has pointed to «similar operational patterns» between these attacks and the murder of Roberto Samcam, as well as a high degree of planning in the selection of the time and place for their execution.

In both cases, an organized criminal network involving Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans was involved in the attacks. Firearms were used, and, remarkably, in both the murder and the attempted murder, the victims were shot eight times.

Both cases highlight the vulnerability of Nicaraguan exiles in Costa Rica and the expansion of the dictatorship’s repressive tentacles beyond its borders.