Transnational Spying on Nicaraguans in Exile Denouced at UN
Nicaraguan State institutions and the FSLN profile regime critics turning them into targets, GHREN report says.
HAVANA TIMES – The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has used “a broad and complex network of surveillance and intelligence” to monitor the activities of Nicaraguans, even “beyond the country’s borders.” This network has allowed them to “harass, discredit, and threaten” Nicaraguans in exile, concluded the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN).
This “extensive and methodical” surveillance system makes substantial use of digital technologies and is primarily aimed at former Sandinista and Contra combatants, ex-military members, journalists, political figures, activists, and human rights defenders, the Group of Experts specified in their report Nicaragua: Persecution Beyond Borders — Exile and Transnational Human Rights Violations.
The document, presented on September 23, 2025, to the United Nations Human Rights Council, reveals that “transnational surveillance” is organized through “a multi-layered intelligence architecture” involving the Army, Police, foreign service, and non-state agents. “At its core is a network coordinated by the Directorate of Information for the Defense of the Army, the military intelligence agency,” it emphasizes.
Regime operatives are tasked with “identifying and monitoring internal and external ‘threats,’” the report warns. “Undercover officials and informants carry out physical and digital surveillance of persons of interest, report on their movements and associations, and in some cases, directly harass and threaten them,” it highlights.
It adds that the National Police intelligence services maintain “close coordination” with the Army, sharing dissident profiles and intercepting communications and mobility data.
Physical and digital surveillance
The Group of Experts emphasizes that targets are identified by monitoring their social media, public activities, or association with opposition groups. “Once profiled, they are subject to physical surveillance by undercover officials or informants, and digital surveillance through account hacking, spyware, and communication interception,” the report notes.
Some exiled Nicaraguans told the Group they had been photographed, followed, harassed, approached by unknown individuals, and threatened while in Costa Rica and Honduras, but also in Belgium, Guatemala, Spain, and the United States.
These actions “are directed from Nicaragua and carried out by networks of informants, which, according to collected information, include both Nicaraguans and locally recruited individuals,” the report reads.
The document also notes “a sustained pattern of state-sponsored digital espionage against exiled individuals and their families.” This includes the interception of phone calls, hacking of messaging platforms, and installation of spyware on devices such as mobile phones and computers.
“In many cases, victims reported that messages shared privately were later used to threaten or discredit them through anonymous campaigns on social media. This indicates that Nicaragua has systemic monitoring capabilities involving both state operators and private agents aligned with the Government,” it highlights.
Samcam’s Murder
The Group of Experts warns that physical violence against Nicaraguans in exile has become “a growing concern in recent years,” particularly in Costa Rica and Honduras—countries where murders and attempted murders of Nicaraguan exiles have been recorded, the most recent being the murder of retired Army Major Roberto Samcam.
Samcam left Nicaragua after the repression of the 2018 protests, but—from his exile in Costa Rica—he continued denouncing human rights violations in Nicaragua. He was considered a strong critic of the Nicaraguan regime and frequently appeared on political analysis programs to denounce the regime’s brutality and to warn about the existence of cells operating out of the Nicaraguan embassy in San Jose to monitor exiles.
The Group of Experts also documented other Nicaraguan exiles who were victims of attacks, such as Joao Maldonado, who survived two assassination attempts in 2021 and 2024 in Costa Rica, and Rodolfo Rojas Cordero, who was found dead in 2022 in Honduras. They emphasized that both the surviving and deceased victims had been subjected to harassment and had received death threats and warnings prior to the attacks.
They added that the murders and other incidents of physical violence “highlight the urgent need to strengthen international cooperation, reinforce protection mechanisms for exiled populations, and conduct thorough investigations into the transnational dimension of the threats they face.”
Social media and phone communications are monitored
According to the Group of Experts, social media platforms have become “a central axis” of this state-sponsored digital surveillance.
They point out that “specialized units” from the Directorate of Information for Defense, the Directorate of Military Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and the National Police “monitor posts, photographs, comments, and digital connections. They use algorithms and keyword tracking to identify content considered critical of the Government.”
People who publicly criticize the regime “are profiled” and “become the target of doxing (the disclosure of personal information online without consent), are threatened, including with death, and subjected to smear campaigns orchestrated by ‘troll farms’ and networks of ‘bots’ linked to the Sandinista Youth, the Unidades de Victoria (Victory Units), and the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services (Telcor),” the document says.
The smear campaigns often falsely accuse dissidents of crimes or of being connected to drug trafficking and terrorism, aiming to undermine asylum requests and other relocation processes.
Phone communications are also frequently intercepted by the State with the cooperation of telecommunications providers. “Victims reported call drops, interference, echoes, and sudden activation of microphones, signs consistent with surveillance technologies,” the report notes.
In some cases, exiles received calls from unknown numbers in which “private conversations were repeated or they were threatened with descriptions of their recent movements, indicating real-time tracking.”
This digital surveillance has created a climate of fear and isolation among Nicaraguans in exile. The Group notes that “many people no longer feel safe communicating with trusted friends or allies, while others have drastically limited communication with family in Nicaragua for fear of reprisals. In some cases, their own family members have asked them to stop communicating.”
Transnational repression
The surveillance, threats, and harassment of exiled Nicaraguans are part of the Ortega-Murillo regime’s transnational repression, which continues to commit a series of transnational human rights violations affecting exiles and their families, both inside and outside Nicaragua.
Among the transnational violations documented by the Group of Experts are: arbitrary deprivation of nationality, prohibition from entering their own country, refusal to issue or renew passports, suppression of civil registry documents, revocation of academic and professional degrees, confiscation of property and pensions, as well as surveillance, threats, and harassment.
Exiled individuals are also exposed to acts of physical violence abroad and to the misuse of international mechanisms, including improper use of Interpol Red Notices, dissemination of false alerts regarding travel documents, and manipulation of financial compliance regulations to block access to the banking system.
These actions are complemented by measures targeting their family members in Nicaragua, who face harassment, arbitrary detentions, dismissals, confiscation of property, and restrictions on their freedom of movement solely due to their familial ties.
All these acts “are part of a coherent and deliberate state policy aimed at silencing dissent, eradicating opposition voices abroad, and ensuring impunity for crimes committed within Nicaragua,” the report states. “These are serious violations of international human rights law which, in some cases, prima facie constitute crimes against humanity,” the document indicates.