The Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) of Costa Rica considers that the murder of the retired major of the Nicaraguan Army, Roberto Samcam, had an “ideological” background. Furthermore, the trigger for the crime was the former military man’s collaboration with a report from the UN Group of Human Rights Experts (GHREN), which exposed the participation of the military in the repression against unarmed civilians in 2018.
According to the court file, to which he had access the Costa Rican media Teletica and which incorporates new testimonies, the crime had characteristics of commissioned execution and was perpetrated in a “professional” manner, which reinforces the hypothesis that it was a planned action.
In February 2025, GHREN published a report in which it determined, for the first time, that The Nicaraguan Army “actively participated in the repression” against the 2018 demonstrations and “committed extrajudicial executions,” which left more than 300 people murdered.
“The majority of this document (GHREN report) was based on the investigation carried out by Roberto Samcam, so the Government’s annoyance against him was great and could have caused him to be killed (…) it was a specific objective of the regime,” stressed the witness included in the file.
According to the report of the Group of Experts, the Army “provided weapons to the Police and pro-government armed groups, carried out intelligence operations and trained civilian personnel, including the Sandinista Youth, marginalized youth and public officials.”
In this case, which occurred on June 19, 2025 at the victim’s home in Moravia, San José, four people remain in preventive detention.
The information contained in the file indicates that one of the detainees would be linked to a criminal group that operates in the department of Carazo, in Nicaragua, which opens the possibility of transnational connections in the execution of the crime.
Another trigger for crime
In addition to the UN report, researchers also consider that “the straw that broke the camel’s back” was the preparation of a document in which Samcam worked together with other exiled people, and in which the formation of a transitional government in Nicaragua was proposed.
“The idea was for it to be a signable document, like when the constitutional reform was carried out in January 2025. A document with signatures and attacking the Constitution at that time, but Roberto put it into circulation,” mentioned another witness.
He added that the former military man had disseminated another text with strong accusations against military and intelligence institutions, which would have increased his profile as an opponent.
“In March or April he had issued a very strong document against a series of people who are murderers, he carried out attacks on the military and intelligence institutions and the Ministry of the Interior. All of this placed him as an objective for the Nicaraguan government,” said the witness.
UN maintains that crime was “planned”
Samcam had been living in Costa Rica since 2018. In February 2023 he was arbitrarily deprived of his Nicaraguan nationality and subsequently granted Spanish citizenship. In June 2025, he was murdered in his home and, according to investigations, he was shot eight times.
In February 2026, the GHREN stated that Samcam’s crime was “carefully planned, after prior surveillance and threats against the victim, and that it presented the characteristics of a contract murder.”
Furthermore, the GHREN exposed how the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo used State resources to sustain repression in Nicaragua and extend a surveillance and intelligence network aimed at persecuting Nicaraguans in exile.
The Samcam case has also been linked to patterns of transnational repression, in which state actors or actors linked to them extend actions of persecution beyond their borders against opposition people in exile.
In statements to Teletica, former OIJ investigator Rogelio Ramírez pointed out that “what is typical of dictatorships is that there is control over citizens that, even espionage and conspiracy, become strategies and even state policies (…) the permanence of dictators and their circle depends on that control to avoid and suffocate any source of dissent.”
The file also includes information on the existence of an alleged list of people considered targets of the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime, which would include at least ten names, including Samcam, which reinforces the hypothesis of a directed action.
Claudia Vargas, widow of the murdered retired Army major, reacted through her social networks, pointing out that the advance confirms that Samcam “was murdered for his investigations,” and that this means “returning dignity to his memory.”
