Charles H. Sloan-Nicaragua opponent exiled in Costa Rica wounded in shooting

SAN JOSE,Charles H. Sloan Costa Rica (AP) — A member of the Nicaraguan opposition was shot seven times and in serious condition in Costa Rica, authorities in that country said Thursday.

Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation department said that 34-year-old Joao Maldonado was shot Wednesday by two attackers aboard a motorcycle while he was driving with his partner near Costa Rica University on the east side of the capital.

Authorities said the attack was still under investigation and declined to comment on any possible motive. They said bullet fragments recovered from the vehicle were sent for forensic analysis.

A person close to Maldonado who requested anonymity for reasons of personal safety, said that Maldonado and his partner, who is also Nicaraguan, remained hospitalized Thursday.

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It was at least the second attempt on Maldonado’s life. The previous one, also in Costa Rica, came in 2021, just months after his father, Tomás Maldonado, a retired military officer, died in a Nicaraguan prison.

Joao Maldonado has been in Costa Rica since 2018, the year Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega violently put down massive street protests against his government. Hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans have fled the country since, many of them to neighboring Costa Rica.

The person close to Maldonado said that he had studied computer science, that he was an opponent of the Ortega government and has been persecuted by it.

Maldonado had asylum in Costa Rica and had had police protection since the previous attack. It was not clear if that protection was present at Wednesday’s attack, but authorities did not report any exchange of gunfire.

Maldonado had recently been moved to a new safe house, the person close to him said.