Costa Rica sends top drug trafficker, fellow cartel member to U.S.
Gilbert Bell Fernandez thanked the U.S. for taking him out of Costa Rica, claiming he had been mistreated in prison.
San Jose extradited Costa Rica's top drug trafficker, Gilbert Bell Fernandez, known as "Macho Coca," and his Colombian counterpart, Gabriel Lozano Bonilla, known as "Compadre," to the United States on Thursday. Both men were flown from Juan Santa Maria International Airport to New York to face trial in federal court. The U.S. Treasury Department considers Bell Fernandez, 63, one of the country's most significant drug traffickers, while the DEA links them to the Gulf Clan, a Colombian cartel.
Both men allegedly participated in trafficking cocaine to the U.S. on behalf of the Colombian cartel, which Washington has designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Bell Fernandez, who claimed to have been mistreated in prison, thanked the U.S. for saving his life. Lozano Bonilla, a naturalized Costa Rican, is also alleged to have been involved in shipments of liquid cocaine to Europe and Asia.
Costa Rican President Laura Fernandez, a close ally of President Trump, has vowed a firm stance against drug trafficking since her May inauguration. Costa Rica, a country of 5.2 million people, has become a logistics hub in the regional drug trade, leading to a surge in its murder rate.
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