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Lawyer Francisco Dall´Anese, an expert in criminal law, has served as senior criminal judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, Attorney General of Costa Rica (2003–2010), and head of the CICIG (International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, 2010–2013), with over three decades of experience fighting public corruption, drug trafficking, and organized crime.
In an interview on the program Esta Semana broadcast on CONFIDENCIAL’ s YouTube channel due to television censorship in Nicaragua, Dall’Anese analyzed the impact of the murder of former Army Major Roberto Samcam— a refugee in Costa Rica and opponent of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship — on Costa Rica’s ongoing citizen security crisis.
“The murder of Major Samcam adds to the completely out-of-control homicides Costa Rica has faced in recent years,” said Dall´Anese, adding that this “is compounded by the fact that in the current administration (under President Rodrigo Chaves) there is no criminal prevention policy, no citizen security policy, and this affects us all.”
The former prosecutor warned that “if the perpetrator or accomplices were to be identified, there would be a major problem. If they are already in Nicaragua, I don’t think extradition will happen, and if extradition were requested and denied, and they were tried in Nicaragua, nothing guarantees us that there would be transparent justice as one would expect in a rule-of-law state.”
Dall´Anese stressed that this murder “affects sovereignty, especially if it turns out to be a state crime — and that must be investigated. If it were a state crime perpetrated on Costa Rican soil, it would clearly infringe on national sovereignty.”
Retired Nicaraguan Army Major Roberto Samcam, a Nicaraguan refugee and political opponent of the Ortega Murillo dictatorship, was assassinated with eight gunshots in the doorway of his home in San José, Costa Rica, 10 days ago. What impact does this assassination have on the citizen security crisis already being experienced in Costa Rica?
The murder of Major Samcam adds to the completely out-of-control homicides Costa Rica has faced in recent years — something never seen before — and also reflects the security crisis we citizens are experiencing in the country. There is a clear absence of a criminal prevention policy, and in the specific case of people who are refugees or political exiles, as in this case, the Directorate of Intelligence and National Security has failed in its duty to ensure that dangerous individuals do not enter the country and to guarantee security for those who have sought freedom and safety in Costa Rica.
But this is nothing new — it has been affecting us for a very long time, and what this highlights is that Costa Rica is no longer a safe place. In this particular case, it may be drawing more attention abroad because of Major Samcam’s profile. But in reality, for ordinary citizens, the country has been unsafe for quite some time. We have increased our homicide rate to 16.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, which is more than double the global average. The problem is that we Costa Ricans have come to normalize it. Back in 1993, we had about seven homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, and there has been a steady rise since then — but in recent years, the surge in organized crime has completely overwhelmed us.
On top of this, under the current administration there is no criminal prevention policy, no citizen security policy, and this affects all of us. And I want to be very clear: there is no such thing as 100% security or zero risk anywhere. That only exists in fables, comic strips, or fairy tales. But even so, it seems that the way the prior intelligence for this murder was carried out suggests there was no surveillance or alert system in place to detect or anticipate the attack.
In Costa Rica there is a debate about whether Ortega-affiliated cells linked to the Nicaraguan dictatorship are operating inside the country or are entering to carry out attacks like this — something that President Rodrigo Chaves flatly denied in 2024. What is your opinion on this, based on your experience as a former prosecutor and criminal law expert?
Given how close Nicaragua is — it’s our next-door neighbor — it’s not even necessary for a cell to be permanently based in Costa Rican territory to carry out its plans. Certain operations can be run from Nicaragua; movement between Costa Rica and Nicaragua is fluid, and cells could well be established here, but to carry out attacks like this, that’s not even required. They could enter temporarily, do their intelligence work, carry out the hit, and return to Nicaragua without much difficulty.
The country is indeed currently facing a very serious security crisis, and part of the difficulty with Nicaragua is the blind spots along the border, where there is constant movement that is socially accepted. The country welcomes Nicaraguan citizens without any problem — no one reports that there’s an undocumented Nicaraguan staying in Costa Rica. It’s a situation that has become normal; it’s a form of fellowship we share with the Nicaraguans living in our territory. There is no Costa Rican family anymore that doesn’t have some connection to a Nicaraguan relative. And this has brought us to a state of normality that, thank God, is peaceful when it’s for good purposes — but that doesn’t mean we should let our guard down when it comes to the risk of attacks against Nicaraguan citizens or people from other countries who are here seeking refuge, freedom, and safety.
This is not the first attack to take place. After the Nicaraguan Revolution, there was an attempted bombing — the car carrying the Nicaraguans with the explosives blew up before they could carry out the attack. The people in the car died, and parts of their bodies ended up on the roof of a newspaper office called La Prensa Libre in Costa Rica — that’s the first attack I remember after the Revolution. A few months ago, there was another attempted attack, which I think failed, but we are not immune to more of these happening.
In the last three years alone, there have been at least four attacks: two targeting Joao Maldonado — one in 2021 and another in 2024 (which I suppose you were referring to, when he survived miraculously) — and two other refugees who were murdered in northern Costa Rica. Is there any indication of a pattern of political violence against Nicaraguan refugees?
I don’t believe there is a pattern of violence coming from Costa Ricans — at least there is no evidence of that at this time. But since these are people who come to Costa Rican territory to seek refuge or protection from violence in their country of origin, there is a huge failure on the part of the National Intelligence and Security Directorate, which should be closely monitoring these cases, because their lives come first and must be a priority. I believe there have been oversights, incompetence, a lack of resources, or simply an absence of a clear policy regarding the protection of people who come to stay with us in Costa Rica.
Regarding Samcam’s assassination, what capacity does the OIJ have to investigate and solve a crime like this? What is its main challenge in this investigation?
The Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) is a scientific police force — it has state-of-the-art laboratories by Latin American standards, and our investigative officers are highly trained. That doesn’t mean there’s a 100% resolution rate for homicides, but murders are usually solved using scientific evidence. I believe there will be a major difficulty here, because it’s very possible that just hours after the attack, the killer or accomplices already crossed the border back to Nicaragua, if the attack came from there. It’s very easy to slip away — it only takes hours to cross the border, or minutes by plane. So it’s one thing to be able to solve the homicide, and quite another to actually catch the perpetrator.
If the OIJ investigation can identify the alleged perpetrators of this murder, what challenges would the Prosecutor’s Office and Costa Rican justice system face to take the case all the way through?
If the perpetrator or perpetrators of the crime were to be identified, or the perpetrator and their accomplices, there is a major issue: if they are already in Nicaragua, I don’t think extradition would proceed. And if extradition were requested but denied, and they were tried in Nicaragua, there is no guarantee that there would be transparent justice as one would expect in a true rule of law.
If it were proven that the murder was ordered by the Nicaraguan regime, it would be extremely unlikely for justice to be served in Nicaragua. So, one would expect an international arrest warrant to be issued so that the perpetrator and their accomplices could be detained if they leave Nicaragua and brought to Costa Rica to stand trial. Or, potentially, to Spain, because I understand that Major Samcam also held Spanish nationality.
Roberto Samcam’s widow is represented in this process by Costa Rican lawyer Federico Campos and also by Spanish lawyer Almudena Bernabeu. As you mentioned, Samcam was a Spanish citizen. Could there be two simultaneous legal proceedings, one in Costa Rica and one in Spain?
The investigation process can be conducted simultaneously in both countries, as long as it remains at the investigation stage. Once the person is identified, they can only be tried and sentenced once, because no one can be prosecuted twice for the same crime — at least under the principles by which countries still governed by the rule of law operate.
Regarding both attorneys — without making any advertisements — I know Almudena Bernabeu and Federico Campos personally, and I can say they are first-class professionals with outstanding academic excellence. So his widow is in good hands.
Given the nature of this murder, which many consider a political assassination, there may be “reasons of State” behind it. But here we are talking about criminal justice trying to establish individual responsibility. Could the State of Nicaragua itself be held accountable for this crime?
If the investigations came to that, anyone could even point the finger at Nicaragua, but they would have to do so before international bodies such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Costa Rica would not be able to judge the State of Nicaragua, much less in the criminal justice system. There would be no possibility of a trial against Nicaragua in Costa Rica.
This week, a majority of lawmakers in the Legislative Assembly called for a thorough investigation, saying that this murder damages Costa Rica’s national sovereignty. But so far there has been no response from the Office of the President. Does this crime affect Costa Rica’s sovereignty?
Of course it affects sovereignty — especially if it turns out to be a State-sponsored crime, which remains to be seen. This must be investigated and, as a lawyer, I cannot assert anything without evidence; it would be only an investigative hypothesis. If it were a State crime committed on Costa Rican soil, it would clearly affect national sovereignty, since it would mean foreign authorities came here to carry out a crime motivated by internal matters of their own country, not Costa Rica. We do not accept under any circumstances that any State — not ours nor any other — should attack the life of any citizen, and even less that they would come here deliberately to commit an act of this magnitude.
You have mentioned the responsibility of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security and, on the other hand, the role of the OIJ in the investigation. Should the Costa Rican State, the Presidency itself, feel directly concerned by this murder?
Of course it should feel concerned. There are different police forces in this country, including the Public Force, which is the uniformed police, the Traffic Police, the Customs Police, but we also have a Technical Investigative Police, which steps in once a crime has been committed to clarify the facts, identify those responsible, and, under the orders of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, bring them to trial if there is evidence — this is the OIJ.
Public security is not the responsibility of the Judicial Police — the Judicial Police’s role is to investigate what has already happened when security has failed. The responsibility to ensure security, which I must add does not exist 100% in any country in the world, lies with the Executive Branch. It seems to me that the silence of the Executive Branch does not benefit either the people of Costa Rica or the people of Nicaragua. This silence can damage the sense of fraternity with which our two peoples coexist.
But what I notice about the current Executive Power in Costa Rica is a lack of interest in the security issue, because it has bet on punishment. There are always accusations to the judges, to the OIJ, to the clarification of the facts, because contrary to what the most advanced doctrine says, it trusts that the punishment will serve as an example so that others do not commit crimes, when this has already been demonstrated, it does not work anywhere in the world, not even the death penalty is a deterrent to prevent the commission of crimes.
Since the government holds this view — that safety comes from severe punishments — this is why the President, normally on Wednesdays, verbally attacks the Court, the judges, the OIJ, instead of doing his job to prevent crime. On the contrary, budgets are cut, there are no patrol cars, and of course this affects everyone’s safety — not just that of foreign nationals living among us, but of all residents of the Republic.
What are the key decisions to ensure that this murder does not go unpunished and that justice is done?
I would not want to make any predictions, because it will also depend on how professionally the perpetrators carried out the crime. The more prepared the perpetrators are for actions that threaten the life of their victim, the more complex the investigation becomes. But if there is proper management of the crime scene — if evidence is collected that provides enough information to build an investigative hypothesis that answers the five basic questions — what, how, when, why, and by what means — then there would be a chance of success in the investigation. But I cannot guarantee that. I did not see the crime scene, I do not know the case file, and I do not want to speculate about what the Judicial Police may or may not do in this case, because again, it depends greatly on how professionally the perpetrators acted.
So, it all depends on how it was done — and of course, it is a huge challenge for the Costa Rican police to solve this case. But I would not expect accusations to be made without solid evidence either.
