The arrest of a former Security Minister sought by the DEA raises political tensions in Costa Rica.

The historic arrest of former magistrate and former Minister of Security of Costa Rica, Celso Gamboa, and his probable extradition to the United States to face international drug trafficking charges have heightened tensions between the branches of government in the Central American country, concerning possible responsibilities related to the expansion of organized crime and the wave of homicides unleashed in the last five years.

Until this Monday, Gamboa was serving as a coordinator and advisor to drug trafficking organizations linked to the Gulf Clan, the Sinaloa Cartel, and Colombian groups, according to a report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) partially published by the local press this week. The lawyer was arrested this week after leaving a client’s house in San José, just hours after the capture of an alleged associate known by the alias Rat’s Chest in a town on the southern Caribbean coast.

Gamboa’s knowledge of legal loopholes, judicial corridors, and supposed contacts with police authorities, along with his roots in the Caribbean province of Limón, enabled him to become a central figure for drug trafficking in Costa Rica since 2020, according to information revealed as part of the extradition request by a court in Dallas, Texas. The 49-year-old is said to have taken advantage of the experience gained in his meteoric rise through high-ranking positions between 2010 and 2018: prosecutor in Limón, vice minister of the presidency, head of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS), minister of security, deputy attorney general, and magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice. His controversial political life ended in 2018 when he was removed from the bench by the Legislative Assembly over corruption suspicions, but he remained a public figure.

Frequent social media posts about security issues and flattering comments about the government of Rodrigo Chaves were mixed with news in national media about his involvement with a professional football team founded in 2022 in Limón, coinciding with the DEA’s claims of alleged money laundering through a sports project in that province. He also occasionally appeared as a lawyer in high-profile drug trafficking cases and other newsworthy political and sports matters.

The most controversial assertion in the U.S. police report points to the Chaves government, as it includes a conversation from Gamboa in September 2023 where he claims to have the means to ensure the entry of cocaine into the country. “Mr. Gamboa Sánchez told CS-1 and CS-2 [confidential sources] that the government grants the DTO [drug trafficking organization] access for cocaine shipments to enter the country,” reads the excerpt from the report published in the media.

Chaves denied any connection between his government and Gamboa, despite numerous accusations from opposition political groups blaming him for facilitating conditions for drug trafficking organizations. On Wednesday, alongside U.S. Secretary of Security Kristi Noem, the president labeled Gamboa’s arrest as a “shame” and emphasized the suspect’s past with previous governments of different political parties. That same day, former president Laura Chinchilla expressed on X that “this week has been tumultuous for Costa Rica, but the implications are positive for our rule of law… No one is above the law. Everyone must be held accountable, whether inside or outside the country.”

Current Minister of Security Mario Zamora, who worked with Gamboa during the Chinchilla administration, stated that he will investigate the procedures of the National Coast Guard Service up until 2023, referring to a director who was dismissed and has become a critic of the Chaves government.

“I do not know Celso. I have never spoken to him,” “this is the end of the narcos’ party,” and “many are losing sleep” are some of the phrases Chaves uttered regarding the possibility of the lawyer turning on others. A day later, Jorge Torres, director of the DIS (an agency under the authority of the presidency), stated before a legislative committee that while he was Minister of Security (2022-2023), he met with Celso Gamboa accompanied by two men who are now detained as drug trafficking suspects. These are brothers with the last name Estupiñán, of Colombian origin, who were linked to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Supposedly, Gamboa proposed to provide information about another well-known local drug lord, alias Devil (for whom the DEA offers a $500,000 reward), in exchange for halting the pursuit of another potential drug trafficker, reported the media CRHoy, which Chaves often brands as an opponent. Torres, who warned lawmakers that many in the political environment know Gamboa and that there is “a Celso before and a Celso after,” said he informed Chaves about that meeting and the president asked him to avoid further contact with him.

The fall of Celso Gamboa has also fueled the confrontation that the president has with the Judiciary, which he now questions for not having prosecuted the lawyer sooner. The director of the Judicial Police, Randall Zúñiga, in contrast, claims that everything has been done strategically together with the DEA and pointed to inappropriate ties of executive members: “[Gamboa] has a very, very close relationship with an advisor to the president of the Republic; they are even friends, and he also has another very direct relationship with a minister of the current cabinet,” Zúñiga said to a digital outlet called Portavoz. The presidency labeled these statements as gossip, emphasizing that no specific names were mentioned.

The head of the Judicial Police explained that Gamboa has been incarcerated in a maximum-security prison for at least two months, although the suspect requested a transfer to another prison because he feels he is in danger where he is, as the extradition process moves forward. This would be the first time that Costa Rica extradites a national, thanks to a constitutional reform approved in May by the Legislative Assembly at the behest of the ruling party, although this possibility had been discussed since 2016, as evidenced by a statement from Gamboa in that year, when he was a magistrate of the Criminal Chamber: “The extradition of Costa Ricans should be allowed, as in the fight against crime, the nationality of the criminal should not be an obstacle.”

Costa Rica marked 2023 as the bloodiest year in its history, with a homicide rate of 17.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, double that recorded a decade ago. Authorities attribute more than 70% of these homicides to the struggle between drug trafficking groups for control of routes and the domestic market. Although in 2024, murders slightly decreased, the number of deaths from armed violence in the first half of 2025 (438 up until June 27) points to a possible annual increase.