Q COSTARICA — After several months of appeals and uncertainty, it was formally announced on Tuesday that former Costa Rican magistrate Celso Gamboa will be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges for international drug trafficking.
The unanimous decision by the three judges of the Criminal Sentencing Appeals Court (Tribunal de Apelación de Sentencia Penal) was made early Tuesday morning and immediately released to the press.
However, the court conditioned the extradition of the former official on the United States providing a legal document committing them not to impose a life sentence or a term longer than 50 years in prison, the same limits imposed in Costa Rica.
The prosecution reported that this process by the United States cannot take more than two months. Once approved by the courts, Gamboa will be extradited.
The measure also applies to Edwin López, known as “Pecho de Rata” (Rat’s Chest).
“The maximum sentence is established in our legislation, and therefore, a maximum sentence of 50 years, or even life imprisonment, cannot be imposed. We have been working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on this matter for more than three years, in the drug trafficking investigation,” explained Costa Rica’s Attorney General, Carlo Díaz.
Additionally, the Costa Rican court has requested that the time Gamboa has already served in prison (from May 2025) be deducted from his sentence. In the case of López, that it be guaranteed that he will only be tried on crimes after January 22, 2014, since the previous ones were covered by a final sentence issued in Costa Rica.
In the case of Jonathan Álvarez Alfaro, alias “Profe”, the third person tied to this extradition request, considering that the events attributed to him occurred before the entry into force of the constitutional reform that cannot be applied retroactively, he will not be extradited and therefore ordered that he be tried in Costa Rica.
Gamboa is considered by the U.S. government to be one of the leaders of a local drug trafficking organization.
According to investigations by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Gamboa allegedly earned up to US$500,000 per drug shipment, money supposedly paid by other drug traffickers to facilitate the entry of drugs into Costa Rica.
The investigation even indicates that he moved large sums of money, and that witnesses reported transactions of approximately US$16 million dollars linked to drug trafficking profits.
Vega is wanted for his alleged involvement in international drug trafficking, according to the extradition request filed with U.S. courts. The request, submitted to a federal court in Dallas, Texas, accuses López, along with others, of leading a criminal network dedicated to importing large quantities of cocaine into the United States, charges that led to his arrest.