Exiled Nicaraguan Critic of President Ortega Shot Dead in Costa Rica

Roberto Samcam

Roberto Samcam, a 67-year-old retired Nicaraguan military officer and prominent critic of President Daniel Ortega, was shot and killed on Thursday morning at his residence in Costa Rica, according to local authorities. Samcam had lived in exile since 2018, following an attack by paramilitary forces on his home in Nicaragua.

The Costa Rican Judicial Investigation Organization reported that the assailant entered Samcam’s gated condominium complex northeast of San José around 7:30 a.m. and proceeded directly to his home. Without speaking, the suspect fired multiple rounds from a 9mm pistol before fleeing the scene. No arrests have been made at this time.

Samcam’s assassination sent shockwaves through the Nicaraguan exile community, many of whom fled to Costa Rica amid the Ortega administration’s violent crackdown on mass protests in 2018. Over the years, Samcam became a leading voice of opposition, dedicating himself to exposing government abuses.

View of the “Naples” condominium where retired Major Roberto Samcam lived and was murdered

In 2020, he served as a command-chain expert for the Court of Conscience, an initiative by Costa Rica’s Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress. The project documented testimonies of torture and human rights violations perpetrated by the Ortega regime, with the goal of submitting evidence to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Samcam had openly accused senior Nicaraguan officials of orchestrating these abuses.

He was also the author of several publications, including Ortega: El calvario de Nicaragua (“Ortega: Nicaragua’s Torment”) released in 2022, and a follow-up publication in 2023 that detailed his observations of Ortega's consolidation of power into a dictatorship.

His death draws parallels to another attack on a Nicaraguan exile, Joao Maldonado, who survived being shot seven times in January 2024 outside San José. Maldonado attributed the attack to operatives from the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front, raising fears of targeted violence against political exiles.

The Ortega government, led by President Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, has been accused of widespread human rights violations. Since 2018, authorities have imprisoned hundreds of dissidents, revoked their citizenship, shut down NGOs, and cracked down on religious institutions, including the Catholic Church.

Murillo, who also serves as the government’s spokesperson, has not commented on Samcam’s killing.

The murder has intensified concerns about the safety of Nicaraguan exiles abroad and renewed calls for international accountability regarding human rights violations under the Ortega regime.