A Costa Rican appeals court has approved the deferred extradition of two Costa Rican nationals to the United States, marking the first time the country has authorized the extradition of its own citizens to face criminal charges abroad.

The Criminal Sentencing Appeals Court, of the Supreme Court of Justice, in San José, ruled Tuesday that two men, identified by the surnames Gamboa-Sánchez and López-Vega, to be extradite to the U.S. for their alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

The court said the extraditions are conditional and will proceed only if U.S. authorities meet a series of strict requirements set by Costa Rica.

Among those conditions, the United States must formally guarantee that neither defendant will face life imprisonment or a sentence longer than 50 years, which is the maximum penalty allowed under Costa Rican law.

U.S. authorities must also ensure that any time the men have already spent in pretrial detention in Costa Rica is credited toward any eventual sentence.

In the case of López-Vega, the court imposed an additional limitation, ruling that he may be prosecuted only for crimes committed after Jan. 22, 2014, the date of his arrest and subsequent conviction in Costa Rica. Any alleged criminal conduct before that date is considered covered by a final national judgment, the court said.

The court ordered U.S. authorities to submit a formal notification confirming their commitment to comply with the guarantees requested by Costa Rica.

The deadline for submitting the notification may be extended at the request of the United States, provided that domestic legal proceedings against the two men have not concluded.

If the United States fails to submit the required guarantees within the established time frame, the extradition process will not move forward, authorities said.

In August 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Gamboa-Sánchez and López-Vega among four Costa Rican nationals for their alleged roles in narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

Gamboa-Sánchez has held several high-ranking positions within Costa Rica’s government. He served as vice minister of public security from 2010 to 2011, vice minister of the presidency and director of intelligence and security in 2014, and later that year as minister of security.

He has also served as Costa Rica’s anti-drug commissioner and as a prosecutor in the provinces of Limón, San José, Alajuela and Cartago. In 2015, he was appointed deputy prosecutor of the Public Ministry, and in 2016 he became a magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice.

According to OFAC, Gamboa-Sánchez facilitated the shipment of tens of millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine from Colombia through Costa Rica to the United States and Europe.

In the case of López-Vega, OFAC described him as a drug trafficker based in Limón Province and alleged that he was the sole known source of cocaine supply for Gamboa-Sánchez and two other suspects, identified by the surnames Arias and James.

OFAC said López-Vega and Gamboa-Sánchez also worked together to launder drug proceeds.

Gamboa-Sánchez and López-Vega were arrested in June 2025 on drug trafficking charges following an extradition request from the United States.

Their cases come after a legal amendment that took effect in Costa Rica in May 2025, allowing the extradition of Costa Rican citizens by birth or naturalization to countries with which Costa Rica has extradition treaties.

The Supreme Court of Costa Rica is the court of greater hierarchy of Law and Justice in Costa Rica.