{"id":175307,"date":"2025-09-26T00:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T06:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/confidencial.digital\/sin-categoria\/oij-says-intelligence-agency-tried-to-interfere-in-samcam-case-investigation\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T08:37:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:37:46","slug":"oij-says-intelligence-agency-tried-to-interfere-in-samcam-case-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/confidencial.digital\/en\/english\/oij-says-intelligence-agency-tried-to-interfere-in-samcam-case-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"OIJ Says \u201cIntelligence Agency\u201d Tried to Interfere in Samcam Case Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Randall Z\u00fa\u00f1iga, director of Costa Rica\u2019s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), stated that \u201can intelligence agency\u201d attempted to manipulate the investigation into the murder of Nicaraguan Roberto Samcam, sending the agency highly detailed anonymous information intended to give the case \u201ca political tint\u201d or to change the \u201cdirection of the investigation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Z\u00fa\u00f1iga, however, did not clarify what he meant by \u201cpolitical tint\u201d or how the anonymous information\u2014which suggested possible coordination by intelligence agencies of the Nicaraguan regime in the murder of retired Major Roberto Samcam<\/a>\u2014might have altered the course of the investigation. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t say right now whether the intelligence agency was from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, or another neighboring country with an interest in the Samcam case. But curiously, very, very detailed information arrived, which is being investigated, but it has no real correlation with the facts we are examining,\u201d Z\u00fa\u00f1iga explained in an interview with the program Nuestra Voz<\/a>, hosted by journalist Amelia Rueda. <\/p>\n\n

Costa Rican authorities did investigate the anonymously submitted information, but it does not constitute a central focus of the OIJ investigation.<\/p>\n\n

Z\u00fa\u00f1iga noted that the anonymous information came in the form of a 25-page \u201cvery well-prepared\u201d document linking Samcam to the 2018 protests in Nicaragua. He added that the level of \u201ccoordination\u201d and \u201cprecision\u201d in the information received by the OIJ Confidential Information Center \u201cnever happens.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

\u201cWhen someone provides confidential information, it is usually very brief and to the point. But in this case, almost 25 pages were sent, which raised suspicions that some intelligence agency likely wanted to manipulate or directly influence the investigation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n

Anonymous information added to the investigation file <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

The OIJ director explained that the anonymously submitted information \u201cwas recorded in the judicial file,\u201d which is why some media outlets published parts of the document. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cObviously, when that information arrives, it is noted in the file, and that\u2019s when you see media reports saying \u2018according to the file,\u2019\u201d Z\u00fa\u00f1iga warned. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t necessarily correspond to the reality we are investigating, and its purpose is to generate some benefit for a group with an interest in this homicide,\u201d he emphasized. <\/p>\n\n

The anonymous information, received by the OIJ and reported by La Naci\u00f3n and CR Hoy, claims that a source provided names, phone numbers, and detailed physical descriptions of the alleged hitmen. It also identifies Pablo Robles Murillo as the \u201cmastermind\u201d behind these men. <\/p>\n\n

The information indicates that Robles Murillo received intelligence and assassination training in Cuba and Russia. He is also linked to the Nicaraguan Irregular Warfare Battalion \u201cSocrates Sandino,\u201d a military unit from the 1980s, and to General Julio C\u00e9sar Avil\u00e9s, current head of the Nicaraguan Army. <\/p>\n\n

Z\u00fa\u00f1iga stressed that if he could say whether the Nicaraguan government was involved in the crime, he would do so \u201cwithout any problem.\u201d However, he emphasized that he cannot make that claim at this time. \u201cI need to have objective evidence to say whether it was a political homicide,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n\n

He added that in this case, \u201cI see, and it seems to me, that some government agency was interested in giving it a political tint.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Nevertheless, both Samcam\u2019s widow and human rights organizations have stated that he was killed for being a critical voice against the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime. <\/p>\n\n

Samcam, 67, was a strong critic of the Nicaraguan Army<\/a> due to the institution\u2019s involvement in repression and the killing of unarmed citizens during the 2018 protests.<\/p>\n\n

Costa Rican authorities have not confirmed a motive for the crime. However, Attorney General Carlo D\u00edaz did not rule out the possibility that it was politically motivated. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cOne line of investigation suggests that this was apparently an order from the Nicaraguan Army. We will not be satisfied with merely arresting those who carried out the execution; we will pursue every possible avenue to determine who ordered this homicide,\u201d D\u00edaz said during the capture of the four suspects. <\/p>\n\n

Repression crosses borders<\/h2>\n\n

Samcam\u2019s murder has been reported as the fourth \u201cviolent attack against an exile in recent years,\u201d according to a report presented in Geneva by the Human Rights Experts Group on Nicaragua (GHREN), which concludes that the Ortega-Murillo regime\u2019s repression extends beyond Nicaragua\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n\n

The dictatorship has employed \u201ca broad and complex network of surveillance and intelligence\u201d to monitor Nicaraguans\u2019 activities even \u201cbeyond the country\u2019s borders.\u201d This network has allowed it to \u201charass, discredit, and threaten\u201d Nicaraguans living in exile, the report states. <\/p>\n\n

The document, presented on September 23, 2025, to the United Nations Human Rights Council, reveals that this \u201ctransnational surveillance\u201d<\/a> is organized through \u201ca multi-layered intelligence architecture\u201d involving the Army, the Police, the foreign service, and non-state agents. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cAt its core is a network coordinated by the Army\u2019s Directorate of Information for Defense, the military intelligence agency,\u201d the report emphasizes. <\/p>\n\n

What is known so far about the investigation<\/h2>\n\n

Costa Rica\u2019s OIJ arrested four of the five suspects in the murder of Roberto Samcam<\/a> on September 12, 2025. He was shot dead on June 19, 2025, in his apartment in San Jos\u00e9, Costa Rica, where he had lived in exile since 2018.<\/p>\n\n

Three of the four suspects detained for Samcam\u2019s murder were placed in six-month preventive detention by a criminal court.<\/p>\n\n