As the first year has passed since the murder of the political exile and retired major of the Nicaraguan Army, Roberto Samcam, which occurred in San José, Costa Rica, the clarification of the case has become a “security need” for the Nicaraguan community in exile. Refugees “need to feel safe” in the host country and the Costa Rican State has the “inalienable obligation” to protect them, say lawyers.
The murder of Samcam, whose case is already in the Costa Rican courts of justicehas generated a lot of uncertainty among exiled Nicaraguans. They assure that it is the most tangible fact of the transnational repression of the Nicaraguan dictatorship and demand that during the trial the material authors be condemned and it be established who planned it.
Reaching out to the masterminds of the crime is “the main challenge of the judicial investigation,” warned the Samcam family’s lawyer, Federico Campos, during the Persecution Without Borders Forum celebrated in San José one year after the murder of the Nicaraguan opponent. But, he continues, “it is part of the work we are doing” and “we hope that (during the trial) the material authors overcome the fear that it could mean for them to give clues that could lead to the masterminds,” he remarked.
Campos emphasized that the establishment of who planned the crimewhich occurred on June 19, 2025, is “very important” not only for the peace of the family, but so that “the political asylum seekers in the country feel secure that here (in Costa Rica), no matter what the redundancy, they are safe and that the State is effectively giving them the support that is required,” he stressed.
The duty to protect refugees
For the former president of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solís (2014-2018), the clarification of the Samcam case “is not simply a matter of ethical and moral vindication, but has legal implications that cannot go unnoticed.” He emphasized that if Costa Rica does not defend the safety of refugees, it puts national security at risk.
“When a country is incapable, and the Costa Rican State is incapable, of providing guarantees so that people who have sought refuge and protection actually have it, that seriously violates the security, not only of that persecuted population, but of the entire national population,” said Solís.
The former president recalled that the Costa Rican State has the “inalienable obligation” to provide protection to refugees. “A protection that goes far beyond physical, legal or material security, and has to do with structural factors.” But, to guarantee that security, the State “has to have the political will,” something that at this moment, he noted, “is not enough.”
The political will of the authorities
Solís and Campos agree that political will is “fundamental” to guarantee the protection of refugees and regret that in recent years the Executive Branch has relegated the issue.
For Campos, “unlike the government authorities”, the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) and the Prosecutor’s Office “have taken Samcam’s murder very seriously.” “So much so that in less than a year, the case, from the point of view of the material authors, is already resolved, they are already accused. We are only going to the preliminary hearing,” he commented.
“No matter what happens to the detriment of the refugees in this country, there is still, at least, a Judiciary that supports them. The best example has been the case of Roberto (Samcam). Clearly that is extremely important for their safety (of the refugees), for their stability, and so that in some way they feel that the obligation of the Costa Rican State is present,” Campos added.
Meanwhile, Solís pointed out the need for a “renewal” of the Directorate of Intelligence and State Security (DIS).
“We continue with an intelligence and security action that sometimes acts as political police,” the former president warned. Despite the fact that there are all kinds of rumors “about the counterintelligence that the Nicaraguan dictatorship has involved in Costa Rica and that has been articulated by Nicaragua’s own diplomatic representation in our country,” he added.
On this point, Campos stated that he hopes that The Samcam case “serves to denounce everything that needs to be denounced.”but also so that the amendments that are required in the Costa Rican State are made so that political refugees feel protected,” he concluded.
