Q COSTARICA — Extraditable candidate Celso Gamboa Sánchez on Friday spoke publicly for the first time since his extradition to the United States.
In his statement, the former magistrate and former minister asked for a clear acquittal in this case, but also took the opportunity to once again complain about the restrictions he faces in the maximum security prison of La Reforma, where he is serving provisional detention until his extradition to the United States.
He also stated that this imprisonment has prevented him from paying attention to the criminal cases he faces.
“It is necessary for Costa Rica to know, and for this court to know, that today and tomorrow, the government, through regulations, circulars, and guidelines, has been applying regression in the area of Human Rights to those of us who are deprived of liberty.
“When I entered the Reforma Penitentiary, where I am currently being held in a maximum security punishment cell, I don’t know what bad thing I did to be in a punishment cell, but there I am anyway.
“The truth is that I have been suffering a series of violations of fundamental rights that seem to not occur in Costa Rica, but the court must be aware of them.
“For example, I have only been able to speak with Randall (his attorney at trial) once because access to defense attorneys has been so limited that only six attorneys are allowed into the maximum security prison per day. And if it weren’t for my father being there, he would stay overnight the day before so that a lawyer could enter and give up his space.
“Not only does my father do this, but a large number of others do. Of lawyers who stay overnight the day before so they can visit a prisoner who is being held in maximum security. This isn’t the case with other people, and it very coincidentally happened with my admission to the maximum security area of La Reforma.
“It also happens that after my admission, visits from minors are completely prohibited. The court saw me shed tears, I think at the previous hearing, and I haven’t seen my two minor children for more than four months.
“Last week Sebastián came and I was looking over there, not even seeing you (judges), and I say this with all due respect. I wasn’t paying attention to you, Madam Prosecutor, or to my lawyer because I was seeing my son Sebastián, who I hadn’t seen for almost 120 days, and not to mention my 9-year-old son, Celso, whom I don’t see either because a series of violations of fundamental rights that previously existed in penitentiary centers have been ordered, which affect the right to defense because I wasn’t in prison that day. the hearing.
“I don’t mean to say that this is a vice that allows one to go, no, no, no (…) It’s that this creates an extremely serious violation of human rights for those of us who are deprived of our liberty,” he said.
Gamboa also spoke about how his life took a complete turn as a result of his arrest for extradition and questioned government authorities about the restrictions within penitentiary centers.
“On June 22, 2025, I was at Jacó Beach, taking in a sunset with a very beautiful girl, and on June 23 of that same year, I was sleeping in the maximum security of the Reforma prison. It’s crazy. In life, in the blink of an eye, your life can change so significantly that we can’t take lightly the power that respect and protection of each person’s fundamental rights must have.
“I entered a place where there are only two mealtimes, at 10:30 a.m. and dinner at 2:30 p.m., and bedtime at 4:00 p.m. That’s all there is. We don’t know what’s going on outside. I don’t have access to the media, radio, or television for anyone.
“We can’t make decisions, not even political or personal, and we depend on a single 10-minute call a week that we have to divide between our lawyers and our Family.
“Today, when I went out, I realized that a presidential candidate is accused of raping a minor, and we may be waiting for him tomorrow at the maximum security prison in La Reforma.
We have a President (Rodrigo Chaves) who has boasted that no judge in this country will force him to reinstate or restore the rights we have been granted, and we may see him tomorrow in La Reforma. It’s an issue I’m not going to discuss here; I’ll probably have to discuss it with the Attorney General or with US authorities.
“But these are extremely serious circumstances in which the incarcerated population is being used as political spoils to make people believe that the purpose of punishment is retributive when in reality it’s rehabilitative,” he stated.
Gamboa and the former director of the Fiscal Control Police (PCF), Irving Malespín, were acquitted due to doubt of the crimes of using a false document and ideological falsehood. The Cartago Criminal Court issued the ruling on Friday in a courtroom of the San José Courts.
Celso Gamboa has been approved for extradition to the United States on charges related to international cocaine distribution. The case is notable because it is one of the first extraditions under the new laws in Costa Rica.
Gamboa was arrested in Costa Rica on drug trafficking charges following a federal indictment filed in the U.S. that accuses him of moving cocaine shipments from Colombia to the U.S. through Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
On Friday, Attorney General Carlo Díaz stated that he held a meeting withGamboa Sánchez and his lawyer and sister, Natalia Gamboa, to negotiate a possible expediting of the extradition process to the United States.
“The idea is to try to see, within the possibilities that the legal system allows, how to expedite the pending proceedings,” said Díaz. The Attorney General confirmed that Gamboa has expressed his willingness to initiate talks and negotiations, although they are still in a very early stage.
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