The main suspect in the murder of Roberto Samcam is free and “out and about” the streets of Diriamba, a municipality in Carazo located 41 kilometers from Managua, the Nicaraguan capital. It was known that Keny Navarrete, alias “El Chatel,” was in custody in Costa Rica serving a sentence for aggravated robbery, unlawful detention, and receiving stolen goods. However, a source from the Ministry of the Interior (or MINT, its acronym in Spanish) and five residents of the same neighborhood where Navarrete is from confirmed to this media outlet that he arrived in the neighborhood on July 31, 2026.
“He’s out and about Diriamba; he doesn’t hide because he doesn’t need to. He moves about freely here, and all his friends from the team he sponsors are with him everywhere he goes,” said one of the residents who sent this media outlet a photograph of Navarrete via WhatsApp. DIVERGENTES verified the authenticity of the image but decided not to publish it for the safety of the person who sent it. In the photo, Navarrete appears smiling and chatting with several friends in the San José neighborhood.
DIVERGENTES contacted the office of the Ministry of Justice and Peace, which is responsible for administering the prison system in Costa Rica, to inquire about Navarrete’s status. The institution responded that “El Chatel” was released on July 15 from the prison where he had been incarcerated since 2016 and was subsequently handed over to Nicaragua’s General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners so that that authority could “determine the appropriate course of action within the scope of its jurisdiction.”
According to Article 250 of Costa Rica’s General Law on Migration and Foreigners, when a convicted foreign national completes their sentence, the Ministry of Justice and Peace must notify the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners 30 days in advance so that it may initiate deportation proceedings. However, for the measure to take effect, the destination country must authorize the former convict’s entry. In this case, that authorization would fall to Nicaragua, explained a source linked to the Ministry of Justice and Peace with knowledge of the case.
An official document in DIVERGENTES’ possession, provided by a source at Nicaragua’s General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners, revealed that “El Chatel” entered the country on July 30, 2026—15 days after he had served his sentence. The suspect accused of orchestrating Samcam’s murder was seen by his friends in the neighborhood and neighbors the following day, August 1.
“They welcomed him as if a hero had arrived in the neighborhood. I don’t know if it’s ignorance or naivety, but everyone was happy because their ‘pofi’ [‘bro’] was back,” said one of Navarrete’s neighbors, who requested anonymity for security reasons.
The “President’s” Return to Club Sport Navarrete
On July 31, in the San José neighborhood of Diriamba, Carazo, a small group of people jubilantly celebrated the “president’s” return to the neighborhood. The excitement was so great that the Facebook page for “Club Sport Navarrete”—which had been inactive since September 30, 2025—was reactivated to announce his return to the local veterans’ league.
“The day he returned, they were jumping for joy. Even from prison, he sponsored the team, and the players—who are his own friends or childhood acquaintances—dedicated their victories and titles to him,” said a resident of the San José neighborhood, where Keny Navarrete, the president and main sponsor of “Club Sport Navarrete,” is from.
Since his arrival in the neighborhood, Navarrete has been moving about freely throughout the city. He walks around with his friends and recently announced that his team, “Club Sport Navarrete,” would return to the fields of the veterans’ league.
In Diriamba, those who know “El Chatel” and are aware of the crimes for which he was imprisoned—and the one for which he was, in theory, under investigation—can’t help but be astonished by the ease with which he walks through the neighborhood streets.
While questions remain unanswered, “El Chatel” and his team were meant to play in the Diriamba veterans’ league this past Saturday, August 8, at Tulio López Field, a popular venue among soccer fans in this municipality.
Navarrete’s Connection to Samcam’s Murder
A report by Confidencial published in March 2026, based on a report detailing the expanded investigations by Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (or OIJ, its initials in Spanish), revealed that Navarrete was identified as the alleged mastermind who orchestrated—from prison—the murder of retired Nicaraguan Army Major Roberto Samcam Ruiz.
According to the article, the perpetrators of the murder executed Samcam in exchange for money, coordinating the operation allegedly at Navarrete’s behest. At the time of publication, “El Chatel” was serving a sentence for the crimes of aggravated robbery, unlawful detention, and receiving stolen goods. He was incarcerated in Wing C-4 of the Jorge Arturo Montero Castro Institutional Care Center (CAI)—a prison known as “La Reforma”—in San Rafael de Alajuela, northwest of San José.
The search conducted by the OIJ in Navarrete’s cell yielded important details for the investigation. For example, they found resources unusual for a convict like “El Chatel.” They also found a notebook with bank account records mentioning more than $16,000 and 4.1 billion colones, approximately $9,110.
“Based on the telephone records obtained so far, it has been determined that there was a large number of calls made both before and after the incident (Samcam’s murder), documenting communications between some of the suspects believed to have carried out the murder and the CAI Jorge Arturo Montero Castro prison,” states the article published by Confidencial.
The phone belonging to Luis Orozco, one of the suspects in Samcam’s murder, recorded at least 102 calls to “La Reforma” prison between April 2, 2025, and July 7, 2025, according to the document in the possession of that media outlet. Likewise, the device linked to Bryan Robles, another suspect, recorded calls to numbers at the same prison in the days leading up to and following the murder on June 19, 2025. However, none of this was taken into account in the decision to keep “El Chatel” in prison.