QCOSTARICA – A Nicaraguan family from Esteli, the 3rd largest city in Nicaragua, that came to Costa Rica in search of better opportunities found death at the hands of several killers who broke into their house in the district of Tempate, Santa Cruz, in the province of Guanacaste.
The Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) identified the five victims as Amparo Cardoza Orozco, 55, her two children, a nephew and the brother-in-law, identified as Jonathan Cardoza Rivas, Pedro Hernández Cardoza, Miguel Jarquín Cardoza and Isidro Orozco Loáiciga.
All had multiple gunshot wounds. The OIJ has not disclosed information about the motive for the crime; however, they speculate that they could be collateral victims, that is, that family was not the target of the three gunmen that broke into the home Saturday night. The objective may have been of those who previously occupied that house.
By chance, Fernando Cardoza survived, was able to hide under a bed when he heard the first shot, and was thus able to dodge the bullets.
Speaking to GuanaNoticias.com, Amparo Cardoza, Doña Amparo’s daughter, said the family had arrived in Costa Rica legally, entering through the La Cruz border post some 15 days ago and had been living in that house for the last eight days. The younger Amparo was not at home, at work at the time of the massacre.
Amparo, who was the first to travel to Costa Rica about a year ago, to pave way for her family, told authorities that the last time she spoke to her mother was around 7:00 pm and now asks that the Nicaraguan embassy and the authorities for support to facilitate the process that allows them to take the bodies to Nicaragua and bury them there.
On Monday, the Ministry of Security reported the detention of two men as suspects.
So far this year, the province of Guanacaste registers 32 murders, three less for the entire 2021. Most of them have occurred in Santa Cruz.
In 2016, Santa Cruz was the scene of another massacre, also five members of a family. That time, Adrián Salmerón Silva, 24, a Nicaraguan, killed his lover, Yeimmy Jésica Durán Guerra, 38, her three children aged 6, 8 and 12 and her husband, Dirk Beauchamp, 57, an American.
Read more: “Matapalo Monster” Convicted To 183 Years In Prison
The man fled to his country where he was captured after his family alerted police to his whereabouts and within months sentenced to 183 years in prison, of which he will only serve 30 years, the maximum sentence in that country.
