Jul 21
Communism’s Main Export: Repression
Last week, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights warned about “the intensification of repression by the Nicaraguan regime, which now extends beyond its borders and affects people in mobility and those opposing the government.” In other words, the regime led by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo is no longer content with domestic persecution—it is now exporting its violence and intolerance.
A stark example is the recent assassination of retired Nicaraguan Army Major Roberto Samcam, killed on June 19 at his exiled home in San José, Costa Rica. Samcam was gunned down by an assailant posing as a delivery man—a calculated attack that cannot be dismissed as a random act of violence.
This kind of operation is part of a broader trend known as transnational repression, the deliberate targeting of dissidents beyond a country’s borders. The Chinese communist regime has been a global leader in this practice.
As documented by Adrian Zenz, Director of China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, the People’s Republic of China has described internal security as “a sharp weapon in the fight against hostile forces and elements both inside and outside the country.” Zenz uncovered evidence showing that the Ministry of Public Security’s internal protection units conduct covert operations, supported by local police stations and “social forces”—neighbors, NGOs, and civil groups—to suppress politically sensitive activities.
These methods have already reached Latin America. New evidence from a Chilean prosecutor’s investigation has confirmed that the February 2024 abduction and assassination of former Venezuelan army lieutenant Ronald Ojeda in Chile was a politically motivated murder, ordered by Nicolás Maduro’s regime and carried out by members of the Tren de Aragua criminal network. The case exposes the brutal reach of Maduro’s regime and its ability to deploy violence abroad using transnational crime as a tool of repression.
The Cuban dictatorship also engages in transnational repression by treating pro-democracy exiles and their global supporters as existential threats. For years, the regime has manipulated Interpol red notices to criminalize and attempt the arrest of leaders such as Dr. Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, coordinator of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance. Similarly, in 2018, Rosa María Payá, founder of the civic initiative Cuba Decide, reported that she was detained in Lima, Peru, due to an international alert issued at Cuba’s request.
The pattern is undeniable: these communist regimes—economic and social failures—have little to offer the world. The main export asset of these authoritarian governments is repression and terror. That is their most reliable product.
It is time for Western democracies to act swiftly and decisively. Transnational repression is not a distant threat—it is happening here and now, on democratic soil, targeting people who are simply defending freedom. Protecting them is not just a matter of human rights—it’s a matter of sovereignty.
Hernán Alberro is a Senior Fellow with VOC’s Latin America Program. All opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position or views of the institutions they represent or VOC.
