Q COSTARICA — On Monday, the clock began ticking (the 15-day period) for processing the appeal filed by former magistrate Celso Gamboa Sánchez to halt his extradition to the United States, even though the appeal was filed more than a month ago.
Since October 10, the former minister’s legal team has filed an appeal against the ruling by the San José Criminal Court, which approved the extradition request from U.S. judicial authorities.
Gamboa’s legal team filed the appeal within three days of the extradition being approved, as stipulated by law. The 15-day period for the judges to rule begins after the appeal is filed.
However, this period had not yet begun due to several setbacks in the appointment of the judges who will review the appeal. Initially, two of the three designated judges cited reasons for declining to take on the case.
One of the first judges assigned to the case is surnamed Quesada Salas, who requested to recuse herself because she is married to Carlos Chinchilla Sandí, former president of the Supreme Court of Justice.
Chinchilla was the highest-ranking official of the Judiciary between 2017 and 2018, a period during which the scandal erupted that led to Celso Manuel’s departure from the institution while he was a magistrate of the Third Chamber of Criminal Cassation.
Chinchilla was even reprimanded for his decisions regarding the Cementazo case. He presided over the Court when it asked the Legislative Assembly to revoke Gamboa’s appointment as a high court judge, after classifying as extremely serious offenses a series of events related to the trip he took to Panama with cement importer Juan Carlos Bolaños.
Another judge on the same panel claimed to have worked with a lawyer named Fernández Mora, Celso Gamboa’s brother-in-law and husband of his sister, Natalia Gamboa, who was also a member of the defense team in the case.
Both judges’ recusals were approved, and a second panel was formed, which also faced difficulties.
Unsuccessful Attempt
One of the judges on the new panel tried to recuse herself because she had previously ruled on an appeal in a case involving Gamboa, who faced his first trial in 2021 for influence peddling, along with the former mayor of San José, Johnny Araya Monge, and the former prosecutor, Berenice Smith Bonilla.
They were acquitted, but the Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed.
That appeal was decided by the same judge, who will now hear the extradition appeal, so she again tried to recuse herself. However, the request was rejected, and she remained on the panel.
Michael Castillo, another of Gamboa’s lawyers, confirmed the setbacks that have hindered the normal progress of the appeal. Now, with the appointments finalized, the deadline has begun.
“The first court had been formed, and of the three judges, two recused themselves. They formed a new court with the two remaining judges; one attempted to recuse herself, but it was rejected, and the court’s appointment is now final.
We are just now beginning the 15-day period,” the defense attorney explained.
On October 7, the San José Criminal Court also approved the extradition of convicted drug trafficker Edwin Danney López Vega, alias Pecho de Rata or Diosito, and Jonathan Álvarez Alfaro, alias Profe or Gato, identified as the leader of a money laundering organization linked to drug trafficking. Their defense teams also appealed.
All three, Gamboa, López and Álvarez, are in preventive detention (remand) in La Reforma, Costa Rica’s maximum security prison, located in San Rafael de Alajuela.
They are wanted by the U.S., where they are considered high-profile criminal leaders. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas accuses them of conspiracy and international distribution of large quantities of cocaine.
The Extraditables
The extradition file portrays Celso Gamboa as the Gulf Cartel’s regional coordinator, with connections in Colombia, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) also links him to the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Clan, organizations for which he allegedly coordinated the purchase of cocaine to store in Costa Rica and subsequently ship to the United States.
According to agency records, in September 2023, Gamboa told two informants that the Costa Rican government allowed him to bring cocaine into the country. The meeting was recorded.
Meanwhile, Pecho de Rata was arrested before Gamboa and could become the first Costa Rican extradited under the new regulations. He served eight years in prison after the seizure of more than 300 kilos of cocaine.
The DEA maintains that he used a property in Sixaola, leased by the company Hermanos López Tyndall, controlled by his relatives, to receive aircraft loaded with drugs.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Álvarez Alfaro, 46, is identified as the leader of a drug trafficking network with operations in North, Central, and South America since 2008. A cattle rancher by trade, he allegedly coordinated cocaine shipments from Costa Rica to the United States since 2014, obtaining approximately US$1.2 million in illicit profits.
In 2016, a police operation in San José intercepted a shipment of 328 kilos of cocaine after surveillance and legal wiretaps. An additional 149 kilos were found hidden inside the vehicle, and the occupants were arrested, confirming the organization’s involvement in international drug trafficking.
In October, Celso Gamboa said the approval of his extradition caused him “great surprise”.
“I have complete faith in the judges of the Republic when it comes to handing down sentences. My confidence in the Costa Rican justice system remains unwavering, even though some rulings still surprise me greatly.
“One of them is my extradition ruling, which, especially after I read it, left a bad taste in my mouth regarding the judge’s tone, but that’s my opinion,” the former minister stated during a trial that concluded this Friday for another case, in which he was acquitted,” was Gamboa’s first public statement of his extradition process to the U.S. as reproted by CRHoy.com.