US EditionCosta Rican ex-Supreme Court judge sent to US in first-ever national extradition
Celso Gamboa, 49, was extradited under new 2025 law banning death penalty and excessive sentences, marking Costa Rica's first extradition of a national for drug trafficking.
- Costa Rica extradited former Supreme Court justice Celso Gamboa to the United States on a U.S. plane to Texas alongside alleged trafficker Edwin Lopez Vega.
- A 2025 judicial reform removed Costa Rica's ban on extraditing nationals to combat organized crime and barred death penalty or sentences over 50 years for extradited Costa Ricans.
- Gamboa has denied the charges as in bad faith and said he would testify about others if his safety is guaranteed, according to Reuters.
- Costa Rica said the extradition lets U.S. prosecutors in Texas prosecute Gamboa on international drug trafficking charges, as Attorney General Carlo Diaz stated: 'Costa Rica is sending a strong message: no one can use our nationality to evade justice'.
- Following a 2021 extradition precedent, Gamboa told Reuters he would testify in the U.S. if safety guarantees are provided, potentially broadening probes into political and organized crime links.
53 Articles
53 Articles
War on Crime Intensifies: Costa Rica Extraditions Former Supreme Court Justice to the U.S., First Case of Extraditing a Citizen to a Foreign Country; Gamboa, Suspected of International Drug Trafficking. Costa Rica has launched a full-scale crackdown on organized crime by extraditing its former Supreme Court Justice to the United States. Costa, classified as one of the safest countries in Latin America
For the first time in its history, Costa Rica extradited two of its own citizens to the United States in the framework of a case for international drug trafficking.The delivery responds to a request from a federal court in Texas, where both are required for alleged links to cocaine trafficking.Read more
Costa Rica premiered this Friday the judicial reform that allows it to hand over its citizens demanded by other nations on drug trafficking charges, but the most important thing of the day is the subject with which the measure begins. Celso Gamboa Sánchez—former judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, former Security Minister and once a bold figure in Central American politics—had to walk handcuffed, with helmet and bulletproof vest, surrounded b…
InsideNoVA.com
Costa Rican ex-security minister extradited to US for drug trafficking
Former Costa Rican security minister Celso Gamboa was extradited on Friday to the United States where he faces drug trafficking charges, authorities in the Central American nation said.
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