Q COSTA RICA — With at least 569 head of cattle spread across remote farms, some within Tortuguero National Park, the organization of Alejandro Arias Monge, alias “Diablo”, Costa Rica’s most wanted criminal, set up a money laundering scheme that, according to the indictment from the Deputy Prosecutor’s Office for Drug Trafficking, operated between November 2020 and December 2023 in four stages and involved a network of family members, front men, and shell companies.
The case, known as the “Colorado case”, does not directly investigate drug trafficking or contract killings, but rather the financial structure that transformed drug trafficking profits into seemingly legitimate assets.
The case gained momentum on December 18, 2023, when more than 600 OIJ agents carried out simultaneous raids in Limón, Heredia, Alajuela, and San José, arresting 29 suspects.
Arias Monge had been a fugitive for almost a decade and was captured on July 24, 2026, in San Bernardino de Horquetas, Sarapiquí, after a shootout with OIJ agents during a massive raid dubbed “Operación Némesis”.
Police forces and Diablo’s heavily armed security ring exchanged over 2,500 rounds of ammunition. One of Diablo’s key criminal accomplices, known by the alias “Cocuaimo”, was shot and killed by police tactical units.
Despite the heavy resistance, authorities successfully captured “Diablo” alongside another prominent cartel figure, Jonathan Pérez Méndez (alias “Tan”).
How the money entered the system
The indictment describes the placement of the money as the first link in the chain. According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the organization introduced drug trafficking proceeds through accounts, transfers, and electronic transactions designed to hinder tracing.
César Quirós is listed in the case file as the administrator of informal loans using the “gota a gota” (loan sharking) method. One of his accounts received more than US$345,746 during the period under investigation, primarily through the SINPE Móvil mobile payment system, deposits, and other mechanisms. The funds were mixed with income from commercial activities to cover their tracks.
The Use of a Restaurant
The second stage consisted of mixing the illicit money with income from legitimate businesses. Anyersson Villalobos Ocampo, identified by the Prosecutor’s Office as a mid-level manager of the organization, managed the El Ranchito restaurant for this purpose.
According to the case file, Villalobos received more than US$26,426 in transfers through platforms like SINPE and then made hundreds of transfers to third parties totaling more than US$29,949, actions that the Public Prosecutor’s Office attributes to concealing the origin of the money.
Companies and Third Parties to Register Assets
The third stage consisted of registering assets in the names of people who were not their actual owners. The indictment details that the organization created companies and used family members and close associates to register assets and project an appearance of legality.
This same logic was also applied to livestock.
The court document indicates that the animal brands and movement permits were registered in the names of Arias Monge’s father, Rafael Ángel Arias Azofeifa; his partner, Charlyn Pamela Jiménez Villalobos; his sister, Gelen Arias Monge; and other collaborators. The animals were transported to remote farms where the organization controlled territory and mixed with livestock of legal origin to hinder their tracking.
Illegal Lottery, Cattle, and Loans
The fourth phase combined three activities outside the formal financial system. The Prosecutor’s Office identified at least 18 clandestine lottery sales points linked to the organization, operated, according to the indictment, by Gelen Arias Monge, the criminal leader’s sister.
Charlyn Jiménez Villalobos managed a cattle breeding and dairy production business to launder drug money with seemingly legitimate income. The indictment adds that he opened and managed accounts at a private bank and a state-owned bank, through which more than ¢11.5 million colones was deposited, and that he made multiple transfers, debit card payments, and SINPE transactions to distribute the funds.
The prosecution also attributes to him a role of “empirical accountant”: he kept detailed records of income and expenses with full knowledge of the illicit origin of the money, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Cattle Theft Within the Scheme
The prosecution alleges that some of the cattle were not purchased, but stolen through violence. On November 23, 2022, an armed group, which, according to the case file, acted under Arias Monge’s orders, stormed the Chu Farm in Horquetas de Sarapiquí, gagged and tied up five people, and stole 16 branded head of cattle, as well as ¢280,000 in cash.
Almost a year later, on October 26, 2023, another attack on two adjacent farms in Aguas Gatas de Guácimo included the kidnapping of a caretaker for almost six hours and the theft of 13 head of cattle.
The largest lot identified in the case, 122 head of cattle—82 buffalo and 40 cows—was registered to Yerlin Sánchez Guzmán and was located on a property of more than 1.3 million square meters registered to the Port Administration and Economic Development Board of the Atlantic Slope (Japdeva), within the Tortuguero National Park area.
Bridge Accounts and Detected Assets
The financial experts assigned to the case detected a recurring pattern: money entered the accounts and left almost immediately, without accumulating significant balances. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, this behavior is due to the deliberate use of “bridge accounts,” financial products designed to receive, move, and disperse funds quickly.
Investigators also noted a discrepancy in the assets of several defendants: they acquired high-value assets without registering income or employment to justify them. Among the assets identified in the case are properties, jewelry, and a fleet of 13 armored vehicles.
Eight people remain in pretrial detention in the Colorado case: Andry Brenes Jácamo, Anyersson Villalobos Ocampo, Jafet Steven Murillo Cano, Yohel Fabián Gutiérrez Cisneros, Jorge Antonio Portuguez Ferreto, a police officer accused of aiding the organization, Marlon Parra Parra, Michael Raúl Jiménez Zúñiga, and Yerlin Sánchez Guzmán.
Arias Monge’s father, partner, and sister remain free after the court rejected a request to extend their pretrial detention for six months.