Sandinista assassins in Costa Rica

By: Luis Gonzales Posada - 11/07/2025

The Nicaraguan Human Rights Association has denounced the murder (with eight gunshots) of retired Army Major Roberto Samcam, an opponent of Daniel Ortega's government. Samcam survived as a refugee in Costa Rica for seven years, hoping to avoid being kidnapped, imprisoned, or killed by the Sandinista police.

Samcam is the author of the book "Ortega, Nicaragua's Calvary," which reveals the involvement of senior military leaders in the killing of 300 people during the 2018 protests against the reform of the social security law and, more broadly, against the regime's repression.

In this context, let us remember that in 2022, 61 Nicaraguans residing in Costa Rica were killed, and as of 2024, some 135 people were executed by hitmen or death squads sent by the Ortega government, according to the San José Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ).

Therefore, in its latest report, the United Nations Group of Experts warns against this form of "extraterritorial repression."

On the other hand, the humanitarian NGO "Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más" (Nicaraguan Never Again Collective) points out that the Nicaraguan exodus amounts to 800,000 people, a figure that represents 11.8% of the population of that small country of 6.8 million inhabitants.

Likewise, the latest data provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) raises the number of applicants seeking relocation to third countries to 440,280, mainly to the United States and Costa Rica.

Without a doubt, these figures project a catastrophic situation, which is worsening because dissidents are now being repressed abroad due to Ortega financing death squads to locate them and attempt on their lives, to such an extent that the former head of the Costa Rican National Intelligence and Security Service, Edmundo Trejos, admitted that for the past 7 years they have detected numerous Sandinista "political operators" in his country.

These events are not surprising, considering the totalitarian nature of a government that does not hesitate to kidnap, revoke the nationality of, and deport priests, confiscate monasteries, shut down media outlets, or kill opponents.

It is shocking, however, that these barbaric acts have received no attention from the OAS, as has the corrupt and repressive Venezuelan government, responsible for multiple crimes and the exodus of 8.3 million human beings, 1.7 million of them to Peru.

Furthermore, to protect themselves, Ortega and Putin have just signed a pact of "reciprocal protection against international justice."

Faced with this evidence, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau stated at the recent OAS General Assembly that Washington is considering leaving the hemispheric organization due to "its inability to address substantive issues such as the crises in Venezuela and Haiti."

How can we explain the ineffectiveness of an institution that has a budget of $100 million a year and maintains representative offices in 33 states, which in turn spend a similar or greater sum to maintain offices and diplomats?

Wouldn't it be more ethical to issue a death certificate to the inoperative inter-American system instead of wasting resources trying to oxygenate an unburied corpse, resources that feed an indolent bureaucracy?

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».