Key facts
- Costa Rica will deepen cooperation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
- New joint operations will target "invisible drug traffickers," including business executives and politicians.
- Attorney General Carlo Diaz was re-elected to a four-year term on Monday.
- Diaz stated that investigators would show no leniency if senior figures were implicated.
- Costa Rica has extradited 6 nationals to the US, with 25 more proceedings underway.
- The homicide rate in Costa Rica peaked at 17.2 per 100,000 people in 2023.
Costa Rica will intensify its collaboration with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to pursue individuals, including politicians and business executives, who allegedly conceal ties to the drug trade behind public profiles, according to Attorney General Carlo Diaz. Diaz, who was re-elected to a new four-year term on Monday, stated in a Reuters interview on Thursday that the second phase of joint operations with the DEA will focus on these "invisible drug traffickers." He emphasized that no leniency would be shown if senior figures were implicated. Costa Rica has already extradited six of its nationals to the US, with 25 more extradition proceedings in progress. The country has previously worked with the DEA to arrest numerous drug traffickers, whom authorities link to a rise in homicides in recent years.