25 de April 2025
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Joao Maldonado, opposition leader during the 2018 roadblock protests in Carazo, has accused Nicaragua’s military intelligence and the Sandinista Front of being behind two assassination attempts against him in Costa Rica, in 2021 and 2024.
Maldonado was first targeted on September 11, 2021,in Escazú, San José, where he was shot five times. Three years later, on January 10, 2024, he survived a second attack in San Pedro, also in San José, in which he was shot eight times. His partner, Nadia Robleto, was also injured, taking a bullet to the spine.
In an interview with CONFIDENCIAL’s YouTube channel, recorded from a safe location outside Costa Rica, Maldonado — a 35-year-old computer engineer from the National Engineering University and a former member of the Sandinista Front until the April 2018 civic uprising — also accused journalist Danilo Aguirre Sequeiraof being an “operator of the regime” involved in organizing the attack. Aguirre has been named as a suspect in the investigation by Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), which is currently ongoing.
Surviving thirteen gunshot wounds in two attacks
Joao, on January 10, 2024, you were the target of a criminal attack in San Pedro, San José, where you were shot eight times, and your partner, Nadia Robleto, was hit by a bullet in the spine. Fifteen months later, how are you both doing health-wise?
First of all, I want to thank god for the chance to still be alive, and thank the people, friends, family, and all the congregations that prayed during this very painful time for us on January 10. We feel like we’re making progress in terms of health. The gunshots did a lot of damage to Nadia’s life, as you have seen in the reports, she is in a wheelchair. The bullet fractured her vertebra from C1 to C5 and caused a lot of damage. She has spinal cord damage and the situation is difficult, but with God’s help, we will get through this.
In my case, I was also hit by eight bullets. They affected vital organs but didn’t hit any vertebrae and that’s what still allows me to stand up, although with some difficulty. I have an acute neurosensory injury that affects how I walk, and also my arm. With two of the eight bullets, one hit my left forearm and another my biceps, which caused damage to the radial nerve, and I have trouble using my left hand.
Previously, you suffered another attack on September 11, 2021 in Escazú, in which you suffered five bullet impacts. What was the conclusion of the investigations into that first attack?
The investigators handling the case found that the phone calls came from Nicaragua and were directed to the operatives based in Costa Rica. They also discovered there were people involved in Nicaragua. The investigators told me they were trying to find a way to reach the mastermind behind the attack. They had already identified the gunmen — the ones who carried it out in Costa Rica — but they wanted to go further. In the end, those investigators left, and I never heard anything more from the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ).
How did you live the moment of this second attack, on January 10, 2024? And how did you manage to survive?
It was a shocking, difficult moment. We were happy because we were just days away from being resettled in the United States. We already had all the paperwork ready. That day, Nadia had just gotten permission from the fathers of her children to take them out of the country. We were feeling good about that. I was a bit nervous, though, because the meeting I had earlier with Danilo Aguirre Sequeira had struck me as extremely suspicious. But I didn’t have the presence of mind to question it at the time. It seemed off. I noticed something strange about him, but then we got the call that the kids’ travel permissions had come through, and then another call about the exact travel date. All of that stirred up so many emotions that I let my guard down and just felt happy. That’s when the January 10 attack caught us off guard.
You were hit by eight bullets and still managed to remain in control of the vehicle for several minutes?
Yes, I was shot about 15 or 20 meters from the main entrance of Fidélitas University, just as I was leaving. I still managed to try to speed up when a motorcycle with the gunmen cut in front of me. There was also a white vehicle tailing me. I later saw in the investigation videos that it was covering for the motorcycle so I couldn’t hit them.
I managed to continue driving. The shot that really disoriented me was the one to the jaw. But I managed, praying to God in that moment, asking Him to give me the strength to keep going, because my biggest concern was Nadia. When the shots started, I was able to shield her so she wouldn’t get hit. Unfortunately, one bullet did get through and struck her. But during that drive, I was praying, asking God. At that moment when you are between life and death, the only one you can turn to is Jesus Christ. I thank God that I prayed, I asked the Lord for forgiveness for my sins, and I said: “I accept you as my Lord and Savior, and I managed to call my family to say goodbye, and thank God, at that moment, I heard the ambulances coming to help.
The suspects in the attack
In September 2024, Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) released a video showing six suspects involved in the attack — including journalist Danilo Aguirre-Sequeira. Although they didn’t specify what role he played, the OIJ confirmed that just hours before the attack, as you mentioned, you met with Danilo Aguirre at a hotel. What was the reason for that meeting, and what did you talk about? What was your relationship with him at that time?
At that time, the only person who knew, and who summoned me to that hotel, which is where he met with the hitmen who followed me, was Danilo.
Danilo Aguirre asked me to meet him at the hotel because I had done some video work for him. Back in December 2023, he contacted me saying he was working on a journalism project for a Mexican network and needed footage of the streets of Costa Rica and some interviews with Costa Ricans about their expectations for 2024.
He said he’d pay me for the job. At that time, I was going through a tough situation. I was already in a protection program, but I still had to find a way to cover rent and living expenses. So I thought: This is a blessing for me. I never imagined this man had anything to do directly with the dictatorship.
There were very suspicious circumstances because at the time I was going to the hotel, I called him before arriving at the place, and he told me: “I am on my way down. When I arrive at the hotel, he is not in the lobby, I call him again and he tells me: “I am on my way down, I had a delay.”
When we were already there, he showed up, he got all nervous, he wanted to smoke, and I told him, “I don’t smoke, I came to give this to you quickly because I am leaving, I can’t stay long. And he got nervous.
Next to the lobby is the restaurant. He kept insisting that I sit outside, but I managed to convince him to go inside. When we got there, the person at the restaurant said to him, “Please give me your room number so we can charge the meal later.” He replied, “I’m not staying here, I’ll pay in cash.” That set off a big red flag for me.
He did 70,000 things to stall me at the hotel, but I insisted and told him, “Look, here are the recordings you asked for so I can get paid.” And he said, “No, man, just leave it.” I said, “I did this work so you could pay me for it. If you don’t like what I did, don’t pay me, check it first.” He said, “No, I’m not going to check it, don’t worry.” Then he added, “Actually, give me a chance, you’re going to do another job for me, and I’ll pay you in 15 days.”
So, of course, he deduced that I was not going to survive what he had planned with the hit men.
In the months leading up to the attack, you were in touch with the authorities and were part of some kind of witness or victim protection program. Did you inform the authorities that you would be arriving in San José, Costa Rica, on January 9, 2024?
No, I didn’t inform them that day. Months earlier, I had received a threat alert, and they said I wouldn’t survive. That led me to speak with the security contacts we work with in Costa Rica. These people came to pick me up from the company where I worked and took me to file a report with the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ). They transferred me to the Office for Victim Protection, and from there they moved me from Cartago, where I lived, to Puntarenas.
The protection program meant that officers would come by once a week to check on the situation, whether there were any threats or alerts, and that was it.
Whenever I had to move, I would call them, like I did when I went to pick up the passport I received from the Spanish Embassy in 2023. I called the office, though it was hard to get them to answer, but they managed to transfer me from Puntarenas to do whatever I needed.
For January 10, I had tried calling them weeks in advance, but no one ever picked up. So I took the risk—I decided to go quickly, take care of this, and hope everything would go well. But in that case, I ignored the rules. I took the risk to get the job done.
“Aguirre Sequeira regime operator”.
When Danilo Aguirre Sequeira was named by the OIJ as one of the suspects and various journalists reached out to him, he said there was a “big misunderstanding” around his involvement. Later, his father, Erick Aguirre, denied that his son could ever participate in an attack. What’s your reaction? Is there any direct link between that meeting you had with this person—someone you trusted—and the attack that happened afterward?
Maybe in that aspect he was not wrong, because there was a misunderstanding. We thought he was blue and white. That was the misunderstanding, but he is directly an operator of the regime. When I was shot, the person I thought of, because he was the only one who knew that I was going to be in San José, was Danilo Aguirre. The person who summoned me to meet him there was Danilo Aguirre.
The thing is, he never expected me to show up with Nadia. The reality is that he works for the regime’s intelligence services—I thought that the moment I was shot, because there’s no other explanation. It’s confirmed by the videos, by the OIJ’s investigation, and they’ve made it clear: Danilo Aguirre is an operative of the Sandinista regime.
In October 2024, the OIJ raided several houses and captured two Costa Ricans named Rivas and Garcia, and a Nicaraguan named Vargas, they also said they were looking for another person named Quesada. All of them are accused of having participated directly in the execution of the attack. Have you been able to identify any of these people?
No, the only one of all the people involved in the raid or of those identified through the OIJ investigation that I know is Danilo Aguirre Sequeira. The work was very good, thanks to the pressure of the media like yours and all the independent Nicaraguan media that put pressure for the investigation to follow a course and be effective.
That objective was achieved and the initial prosecutor who handled the case did a good job. The case is now in the hands of another prosecutor and continues its course. One of those captured in the raid is one of the gunmen, the other three have other precautionary measures.
If the gunman, one of the people who fired the shots, is in custody, he would have been, therefore, questioned, investigated by the authorities, do you know what he has revealed in those investigations?
He is still in prison. They gave him six months of pre-trial detention before the case begins, and the prosecutor—before stepping down from the case because he was replaced—filed an appeal to extend the gunman’s pre-trial detention. So, the process is ongoing, and the current prosecutor is doing a good job.
The investigations by the OIJ (Judicial Investigation Agency) have not directly pointed to the intellectual authors of this attack nor the first one, but they do mention your status as a political opponent of the Ortega-Murillo regime as a motive. Who do you attribute these two attacks against you to, and why such viciousness in trying to kill you?
The operations that have taken place to take my life come directly from the intelligence of the Army and the Sandinista Front, from the dictatorship. I have not been the first, there have been other blue and white opponents who have been eliminated, that is the term they use, they have been eliminated through the intelligence operators of the Army, the Police and the same Secretariat of the Sandinista Front, because they have a plan to silence all opposition voices, whether inside or outside the country.
This is nothing new. They did it in the 1990s when they eliminated all Contra commanders and other opposition members who turned up dead, executed through so-called accidents that came out of nowhere. This is how the dictatorship has operated for many years, since the creation of State Security. I’m not the only one—others have not survived these attacks.
Former FSLN member leads the roadblocks in Carazo
The official media linked to the regime point out your participation as a former member of the Sandinista Front, that you led the defense of the barricades and roadblocks in Carazo and that you participated in armed confrontations with police and paramilitaries. Some have accused you of participating in human rights abuses and executions at the roadblocks, including that of Bismarck Martinez. What was your participation in the insurrection in Carazo?
My participation was like that of most self-organized youth—we joined the protest, the blue and white struggle, with the goal of change, of giving Nicaragua a chance to have a country with democracy, freedom, and human rights.
I managed to get in front of a group, such as the Citizen Force of National Unity, because we got together alumni of the National University of Engineering to support the protest, thus FECUM emerged, we were present both in Managua and in Carazo.
I decided to stay in Carazo because I’m originally from there. The protest in Carazo involved the entire population, the whole municipalities of Jinotepe, Dolores, and Diriamba—we were all fighting for change. The regime’s narrative, saying I was involved in what happened to Bismarck Martínez, is just to discredit the blue and white struggle. In the department, we all know each other, and we know what each person did. Personally, my hands are clean, thank God. My only participation was in legitimate defense, when they came to kill young people and dismantle the barricades—on June 12, 2018, and in other operations to dismantle the Carazo roadblock. I was involved, but in self-defense.
They are the ones who have the monopoly of arms, the brute force that they have used until today to silence the voices inside and outside the country. The Sandinista Front is going to remain, I can even say it, with all propriety, like the Nazi symbol in Germany, which is going to be abhorred by all generations.
Before the outbreak of the protests, you were a Sandinista, you were linked to the Sandinista Front, did you support the regime?
I come from a family that was Sandinista, my father was a major in the Sandinista Popular Army in the 80s. Later, he was political secretary of the Department of Carazo of the Sandinista Front in 2006. He left the structure of the Sandinista Front in 2007, went to work for ALBA and in 2009 or 2010 he was no longer linked to ALBA or the Sandinista Front.
My father became a Christian. Jesus opened his eyes and he became one of those who criticized the actions of the Sandinista leadership from 2009 onwards. He was unhappy with how the FSLN governed, and I accompanied him through that process, even when he worked for the Secretariat of the Sandinista Front and ALBA. I was always by his side.
Intellectual authors
You have said that the political intelligence of the Nicaraguan Army has been behind these attacks, but what is the motive? Is it a criminal act of political revenge against those who participated in the barricades in Carazo?
Not just those who were in the Carazo barricades, but anyone who participated in the national roadblocks. In Costa Rica, youth have been murdered following the same modus operandi. People from Matagalpa, the northern region, Chontales, and the southern part—some have been killed in Costa Rica. In Honduras, the regime has also carried out operations that killed opponents who were refugees or living there.
This is their plan to instill more fear so that people do not have the opportunity to raise their voices or protest. And above all, there’s a special offensive against those of us who were once part of the Sandinista Front and know how they operate. Because who taught people how to build roadblocks? The Sandinista Front itself—they were the ones who taught how to set them up in Nicaragua.
Now that the barricades are being used to demand change and restore democracy and the rule of law, they don’t like that. They don’t like the medicine they once prescribed being used on them. That’s why people like us, who know how to protest, have become military targets.
Now the barricades are being used to bring about a change in Nicaragua, to bring back democracy in Nicaragua, to bring back the rule of law in Nicaragua, they don’t like that. They don’t like the medicine that they used to apply before, now they apply it to themselves. That is what makes us, the people who know how to make protests, a military objective for them.
After surviving these two attacks, the first with five bullets, the second with eight bullets, do you feel safe now, outside Costa Rica? Do you have any special protection?
Thank God, I feel safe. My special protection is my Lord Jesus Christ. After two attacks, 13 bullets, there’s no other explanation than divine intervention for why I’m still alive. God knows people’s hearts, and I believe He gave me the chance to keep living because He knows my heart, my love and dedication to bringing change to Nicaragua. And because of all the prayers—friends, even strangers, and congregations prayed for me. Their prayers were heard.
So, thank God, I’m no longer in Costa Rica, which is a dangerous place right now. But thanks to the Lord, I feel better, calmer, and I’m focused on recovery.
What is your participation in this OIJ investigation? Are you a victim and at the same time a witness? Are you participating in any way at this moment? Do you consider that this investigation can go all the way to the end?
Yes, the research is ongoing. I continue to participate in the process remotely, and the investigation is going very well. I have been in communication with the people handling the case in Costa Rica and it continues. That is what also gives me certainty and hope that justice will be done.
The gunman is in custody, others have precautionary measures, and the case continues. Regarding Danilo Aguirre, the process will continue, but my faith and hope lie in divine justice—that justice never fails.
Danilo Aguirre is under the protection of the dictatorship. Who expects justice from Nicaragua now? No one. But Danilo doesn’t realize there’s a divine justice that, first of all, kept me alive—thanks to God and the Lord—and I can testify that the operative behind these attacks was Danilo Aguirre. He will be remembered as a traitor, like Judas Iscariot.
Who are the intellectual authors who gave the orders to carry out these two attacks against you?
The intellectual authors are the military and police intelligence. The three-part structure involves the Army, Police, and the Sandinista Front, which have a National Intelligence Center. They are the ones who send people to carry out operations in the region to silence opponents. In Costa Rica, they have a structure. Videos and investigations have shown there’s logistics involved and a lot of money at play. In my case, there were over two vehicles and more than eight people involved. So, there are resources, and that money comes from the Nicaraguan state. The regime’s operational bases in different countries are their consulates—in Costa Rica, the Nicaraguan consulate is an operational base for their intelligence.
At the time, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves denied that in his country there were cells linked to the Sandinista government to carry out these operations and attacks.
Yes, what has happened is that they have been very careful not to confront the dictatorship, because Nicaragua’s strategic position gives it an advantage, if it wants, to put obstacles to Costa Rica’s trade.
We haven’t seen Costa Rica take a stand against the tyranny, even though it’s been affected by the thousands of exiles and refugees caused by the Nicaraguan dictatorship. They’ve opted for a soft approach and avoid confronting the dictator. But this is getting out of hand. Investigations are now revealing facts—not speculation.
It’s a fact that Nicaragua’s military intelligence and the Sandinista Front have intelligence operations in Costa Rica. That’s something that can’t be ignored.
