Photo: Roberto Samcam was a former Sandinista rebel commander who became a high-level military officer then critic of the Ortega regime before being assassinated in Costa Rica on June 19, 2025.
The book “Exile under fire, crimes of the Nicaraguan dictatorship” by writer and journalist Arquímedes González documents the cases of ten Nicaraguans murdered in Honduras and Costa Rica between 2019 and 2025.
Infobae reports: “[González argues] the repression of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo did not end inside Nicaragua in 2018, but spread outside the country through espionage, harassment, threats and attacks against exiled opponents.”
The article further notes: “The author compiled 24 stories of opponents and critics who since 2018 denounced surveillance, harassment and photographic surveillance. …The work records the murder of five opposition peasants in Honduras and five other dissidents in Costa Rica, according to EFE.”
Infobae adds: “[The research by González] concludes that the main targets are stateless and exiled journalists, human rights defenders, civil society leaders, and people who express themselves publicly in the media and social networks.”
González will present his book in Costa Rica on June 12 along with Claudia Vargas, the widow of Ortega critic Roberto Samcam and lawyer Salvador Marenco of the Nicaragua Nunca Más Human Rights Collective. ‘Exilio bajo fuego, crímenes de la dictadura de Nicaragua’ can be found here.
At the time Samcan was killed, the Peace Brigades International-Nicaragua Project commented: “From PBI, we express our solidarity with Roberto Samcam’s family and to the close organizations and people who are mourning and condemning this criminal attack. At the same time, we echo the United Nations statement by expressing our concern for the consequences this criminal fact has for exiled defense persons in Costa Rica. We support the request expressed by the family, organizations and defenders towards the Costa Rican State to guarantee protection for all people who have been forced to exile and apply for asylum in Costa Rica, especially for human rights defenders, so that they can continue to carry out their labour.”
PBI-Nicaragua currently accompanies four organizations: the Pinoleras Women’s Network, Las Malcriadas (The Spoiled Ones), the University Coordinating Committee for Democracy and Justice (CUDJ), and The Reflection Group of Former Political Prisoners (GREX).
The full article from Infobae can be read at Investigación documenta diez nicaragüenses asesinados en Honduras y Costa Rica entre 2019 y 2025 (Infobae, June 3, 2026). Another article about this is at ‘Exilio bajo fuego’, el libro de Arquímedes González que desvela la represión nicaragüense (EFE, June 2, 2026).
