This morning, Costa Rica extradited former security minister and ex-magistrate Celso Gamboa Sánchez and alleged trafficker Edwin López Vega, known as “Pecho de Rata,” to the United States, completing the first handover of Costa Rican citizens under the country’s new constitutional extradition framework. The transfer took place, after a tightly guarded convoy left La Reforma prison in Alajuela and headed to Juan Santamaría International Airport for the final surrender to U.S. authorities.
Costa Rican media reported that the convoy departed the maximum-security section of La Reforma shortly after 6 a.m. and reached Base 2 at the airport within minutes. Security was heavy along the route, including police control in surrounding streets. Once at the terminal, the final domestic procedures began, including the judicial steps required before the men could be placed in U.S. custody and boarded on a DEA-linked aircraft that had arrived in advance for the operation.
The extraditions close one phase of a case that has shaken Costa Rica because of Gamboa’s past positions in the country’s justice and security institutions. In the United States, Gamboa was indicted in the Eastern District of Texas on charges tied to cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. U.S. prosecutors alleged that he participated in manufacturing and distributing cocaine knowing it would be unlawfully imported into the United States. López Vega was processed through the same extradition track and is also wanted in connection with drug trafficking allegations.
Friday’s transfer is a direct result of Costa Rica’s reform to Article 32 of the Constitution, signed in May of last year, which for the first time allowed the extradition of Costa Rican nationals in cases involving international drug trafficking and terrorism. For decades, nationals could not be extradited. Costa Rican courts later ruled that the alleged criminal conduct in this case extended into the period covered by the reform, allowing the requests from the United States to move forward.
The legal process now shifts fully to the United States. After landing in Texas, the two men are expected to be received by U.S. marshals, processed through detention procedures, and brought before the federal court handling the case. Costa Rican authorities have described the handover as a milestone in the fight against international drug trafficking and one of the most significant tests yet of the country’s new extradition powers.
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