The attack on Nicaraguan opposition figure Joao Maldonado and his partner Nadia Robleto on January 10, 2024, was planned and carried out with “a strategy consistent with police or military-level training,” according to a partial copy of the investigation file from Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) and Public Prosecutor’s Office, accessed by DIVERGENTES.
The case file states that “a criminally organized group with a clearly defined division of roles” took part in the attack, highlighting the involvement of at least eight individuals. However, the report notes that “the participation of others cannot be ruled out—not only as masterminds but also as individuals who may have been present at or near the crime scene.”
Elsewhere in the file, OIJ investigators and prosecutors describe a highly organized plan for the attack, noting that the perpetrators aimed to avoid any last-minute changes.
Investigators repeatedly reference possible ideological motivations behind the assault, “especially in light of the numerous attacks that have occurred in our country targeting Nicaraguan exiles associated with opposition groups to the Ortega-Murillo regime.”
On October 29, 2024, Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) reported that three of the four suspects directly involved in the attack had been captured by agents from the Physical Integrity and Transit Division. The arrests followed three raids carried out in the neighborhoods of León XIII in Tibás, Bajo los Anonos in Escazú, and a condominium in Alajuelita—all within the San José area.
As a result of the raids, two Costa Ricans with the surnames Rivas and García were arrested, along with a Nicaraguan man named Vargas. Authorities are still searching for a fourth suspect, identified by the last name Quezada.
In addition, Costa Rican security officials named Nicaraguan journalist Danilo Aguerri Sequeira—who is currently in Nicaragua—as another suspected collaborator in the attack.
When Joao Maldonado awoke from a coma on January 19, he was unable to speak due to a gunshot wound that pierced his left cheekbone. By that point, the OIJ investigation was already well advanced, thanks in part to early statements given by Nadia Robleto, who regained consciousness six days earlier.
According to the case file, Maldonado managed to express—haltingly—that he believed Aguerri Sequeira had betrayed him for money. The two had been close friends, and Aguerri had helped him flee Nicaragua during his exile in 2018.
DIVERGENTES reached out to Aguerri Sequeira for comment on the OIJ investigation and Maldonado’s accusation linking him to the network of hired gunmen involved in the attempted assassination. As of publication, the journalist had not responded.
Surveillance Footage Tells the Story
Footage from 23 security cameras along the route taken by the couple prior to the attack helped investigators determine that it was a coordinated operation by a criminal gang, with each member assigned a specific role: surveillance, tailing the victims, identifying targets, carrying out the shooting, and extracting the gunmen.
“Danilo looked nervous, kind of anxious,” Maldonado told investigators.
At 7:43 a.m. on the morning of the attack, journalist Aguerri Sequeira arrived at the Barceló San José Palacio Hotel in a silver car. He entered the hotel and headed to the Ánfora Bar, while the driver of the silver vehicle remained in the parking lot, according to the OIJ case file reviewed by DIVERGENTES.
Forty-five minutes later, Maldonado and Robleto arrived in a borrowed car. They checked in at the lobby, and Maldonado called Aguerri. At 8:39 a.m., the couple proceeded to the restaurant area.
Nicaraguan Breakfast, Prelude to an Ambush
Maldonado recalls having a traditional Nicaraguan breakfast: gallopinto, eggs, plantains, cream, and coffee. At 9:14 a.m., a white vehicle pulled into the hotel parking lot and parked facing the exit. Two men got out. At 9:18 a.m., the vehicle left, but the two men remained—one entered the hotel, the other stayed outside to keep watch.
The man who entered the hotel lingered in the gift shop, constantly texting and making phone calls. The one outside eventually came in as well, bought a bottle of water, and paid in cash. At 9:33 a.m., he entered the restaurant where Maldonado, Robleto, and Aguerri were eating and sat directly across from them for 10 minutes.
At 9:42 a.m., after breakfast, the three stepped out onto the restaurant terrace. Aguerri Sequeira went back inside to pay the bill. He paid with a $100 bill but forgot to ask for change. Robleto and Maldonado exited the hotel through the lobby. At 9:43 a.m., the white vehicle returned to pick up the two men it had dropped off earlier. The footage shows “the bald man (Aguerri Sequeira) emerging from the lobby looking nervous, apparently searching for the targets,” the file notes.
At 9:47 a.m., Aguerri Sequeira walked out to the parking lot, where the silver car and its driver were waiting. He smoked a cigarette while making a phone call and asked a truck blocking their way to move so they could leave.
Coordination and Surveillance
“In a synchronized move, both vehicles mobilized and waited for the target (Maldonado) to exit the hotel, specifically at 9:50 a.m.,” the case file states. According to the investigation, the vehicle Aguerri Sequeira was in “marked” the car carrying Maldonado and Robleto.
Three minutes after the couple left the hotel, two hitmen arrived on a motorcycle—the same men who would later carry out the attack. They looked for the other two vehicles but, not finding them, left the area.
At 10:05 a.m., Maldonado and Robleto arrived at a warehouse in Pavas, where Maldonado went to borrow a tripod—something Aguerri had requested during breakfast so Maldonado could take additional photos.
One of the trailing vehicles immediately entered the warehouse parking lot to keep watch. One of the occupants even got out and walked into the warehouse, where he practically ran into Maldonado and Robleto as they were leaving.
The couple got into their car, closely followed by the same vehicle, as confirmed by security cameras. “At 10:39:54 a.m., the external cameras at Fidelitas University captured the arrival of the victims… Ten seconds later, the suspicious vehicle appeared again… It reached the university almost immediately after the targets,” the judicial file details.
Maldonado was there to enroll in an online course for which he had received a scholarship. One of the men tailing them also entered the university to observe more closely. Meanwhile, the two gunmen on the motorcycle were already circling the area.
At 10:53 a.m., Maldonado and Robleto left the Fidelitas campus and headed toward Calle Siles. Just 18 seconds after their departure, the motorcycle was already following them. One of the cars from the hotel was still trailing behind.
The Shots, the Escape, and the Agony
At 10:58:54 a.m. on January 10, 2024, the motorcycle pulled up alongside their vehicle. Shots were fired at Maldonado, and one bullet hit Robleto.
A second later, camera footage shows the motorcycle speeding ahead of their car while the gunman continued shooting. Maldonado hit the gas. The motorcycle also sped off, while the car that had been following them was now about a minute and a half behind.
Wounded and bleeding, Maldonado drove through the streets of San Pedro, zigzagging in search of help. Robleto, also wounded, managed to call the pastor of the evangelical church they attended:
“Pastor, they got us—they shot us!” she cried, according to the case file.
“Help me, I have three children,” she screamed.
“I can’t feel my legs.”
It was the beginning of a desperate fight for survival.
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By the time the OIJ released surveillance videos in September 2024 to help identify suspects, investigators had already fully identified them. None of them had direct links to the victims—except for Danilo Aguirre Sequeira.
“With the exception of suspect Danilo Enrique Aguirre Sequeira, who the victims confirmed was a long-time acquaintance of Joao Maldonado and who, at one point, helped him enter Costa Rica illegally,” the investigation file reads.
The same file also suggests that Aguirre Sequeira “appeared to have prior knowledge of the action that was going to take place, and tried to prevent any last-minute changes.”
OIJ Case File Details the Extent of the Injuries
The first shot hit Maldonado in the cheekbone and pierced his tongue from side to side. He recalls that after that initial shot, seven more bullets followed, hitting his back and arms. His partner, Nadia Robleto, was also hit by a bullet—an injury that has now left her in a wheelchair.
The jaw shot didn’t just go through his tongue—it also damaged vital structures in his throat, including the vocal cords. Two other bullets struck his right forearm and biceps, and five more hit his back as he threw himself over Robleto, who was riding in the passenger seat, in an attempt to shield her.
These projectiles tore through vital organs—his liver, pancreas, lungs, gallbladder, and intestines. “I just felt a flash of heat on my cheek and thought, ‘Not again’,” Maldonado said, referencing the first assassination attempt he survived on September 11, 2021, in San José. “I’m alive only because of God’s will. I can’t find another logical explanation.”
The nearly 700-page investigation, carried out by the OIJ, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the judicial system, suggests that the attack on Maldonado and Robleto was politically motivated. Authorities worked under the hypothesis that Maldonado had become a target of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s dictatorship in Nicaragua.
During the first attack in Escazú in 2021, Maldonado was hit five times: three bullets in the abdomen, two in the left wrist, one in the right clavicle, and another near the heart. No results from that investigation were ever made public.
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When ambulances rushed them to Calderón Guardia Hospital on January 10, 2024, Maldonado had lost a significant amount of blood. Doctors performed a life-saving procedure that, in simple terms, involved wrapping his body to stop the bleeding from the eight gunshot wounds, administering painkillers, and closely monitoring his vitals. He didn’t wake up until January 19.
At the time of the attack, the couple had been living in Puntarenas, just a few meters from a police station. They had moved there after Costa Rican officials removed them from their previous residence in El Paraíso, Cartago, where they had been staying since the 2021 attack. Maldonado later told La Nación that authorities relocated them after receiving credible information of a new plot to kill him.
He was under protected witness status by the Costa Rican Prosecutor’s Office, with strict instructions: no one could know where he lived, he couldn’t leave home without caution, and he had to wait for resettlement procedures to be finalized in the United States.
A day after the attack, Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves issued a statement denying that the National Intelligence and Security Directorate (DIS) had the legal authority to provide personal protection to Maldonado or anyone else.
The Costa Rican government also categorically denied that there were “organized cells controlled by the Nicaraguan government” operating in the country.
Months before the attack, warnings from Costa Rican authorities had already forced Maldonado and Robleto to quit their jobs. Money was tight. They were traveling discreetly to San José so Maldonado could take on occasional tech gigs to survive.
On January 9, they took a bus to San José because their motorcycle didn’t have its marchamo—the annual road permit required by Costa Rican law. No one knew about the trip. Maldonado had two goals for that visit—one of them was to meet with Danilo Aguirre Sequeira.
According to Maldonado, the meeting with Aguirre was to deliver some videos he had recorded weeks earlier, at Aguirre’s request. Back in December 2023, Aguirre had asked Maldonado if he had a camera and could film him and do a short interview for a supposed report about his life in Costa Rica. They agreed on a $60 payment for the footage.
A few days before the attack, Aguirre got in touch again, telling Maldonado he was in Costa Rica and invited him to meet at the Barceló San José Palacio hotel, in the Uruca neighborhood.
Police Hypothesis Points to Political Motives
“The police are working under the hypothesis that the criminal act was politically motivated, given that the victim, Maldonado Bermúdez, is a person involved in Nicaraguan politics who holds views opposing the government of his country,” states the official report in case file 24-000055-0053-PE from Costa Rica’s Office of the Prosecutor for Drug Trafficking and Related Crimes.
“This theory has gained traction since this is not the first time the victim has been targeted in an attack of this nature. Notably, the dynamics of the first incident were the same: the victim was in a vehicle when two individuals on a motorcycle approached and struck him,” the file explains.
Maldonado was a leader within the Sandinista Front and president of the Sambo Federation before defecting in 2018 and leading protests in Jinotepe. Since then, he has been targeted by the Ortega-Murillo regime, which accuses him of involvement in the death of Bismarck Martínez, a Sandinista militant whom the government has turned into a martyr. Maldonado denies all accusations and says it is a smear campaign by the Sandinista dictatorship to discredit him.
This report is part of an ongoing investigation based on multiple documentary and testimonial sources.