Costa Rican courts have cleared the final domestic obstacle blocking the extradition of Gilbert Bell Fernández, known as “Macho Coca,” to the United States, where he is wanted for alleged crimes tied to international drug trafficking.
The Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Limón approved an opportunity criterion in Bell’s favor in a local case for aggravated robbery involving the alleged theft of fuel. The decision effectively ends the only criminal proceeding still pending against him in Costa Rica.
The ruling is a major step in one of the most closely watched extradition cases. Bell, a Costa Rican citizen from Limón, has long been identified by U.S. authorities as an alleged drug trafficking figure linked to cocaine movements through the Caribbean province.
Prosecutors asked the court to drop the remaining case after an appeals court in San José ruled that the U.S. extradition request could move forward. With that decision already in place, the local fuel-theft case had become the main pending issue preventing his transfer.
Under Costa Rican law, the measure allows prosecutors to drop a criminal case under specific legal conditions. In this case, it removes the last pending case against Bell in Costa Rica and clears the way for the extradition process to move forward.
Bell had remained in preventive detention in Costa Rica while the fuel-theft case was pending. That file involved allegations tied to the theft of fuel, but with the court’s latest decision, he no longer faces active criminal charges in the country.
The case also reflects Costa Rica’s changing approach to extradition. For decades, Costa Rican citizens could not be extradited. That changed in 2025, when the country amended Article 32 of the Constitution to allow the extradition of nationals in cases involving international drug trafficking or terrorism, with judicial approval and respect for due process guarantees.
Bell’s extradition was initially rejected by a Limón court earlier this year. Prosecutors appealed, and the appellate court later reversed that decision, ordering his delivery to U.S. authorities. The court also required guarantees from the United States before the transfer could be carried out.
Those guarantees are part of Costa Rica’s extradition framework. They include assurances that Bell will not be tried for facts outside the extradition request and will not face penalties barred under Costa Rican law, such as the death penalty or life imprisonment.
Another case involving Bell had originally been expected to proceed to trial. However, prosecutors later indicated that he had been dismissed from that matter, meaning the proceedings continue only against other defendants. The remaining steps now fall largely to U.S. authorities. Once the required documentation and guarantees are filed, Costa Rican judicial authorities are expected to set the date for Bell’s transfer to U.S. custody.
U.S. authorities have accused Bell of alleged involvement in international cocaine trafficking. The U.S. Treasury Department previously sanctioned him in 2023, describing him as a major narcotics trafficker in Limón and linking him to the movement of large quantities of cocaine.
The case places Bell among the most prominent Costa Rican nationals sought by the United States under the country’s new extradition rules. It also comes as Costa Rica faces growing pressure over organized crime, port security and the use of its territory as a transit point for drug shipments moving north.
For now, Costa Rica has completed nearly all of the internal judicial steps needed to carry out the extradition. Unless a new legal challenge emerges, the next major development will be the formal scheduling of Bell’s transfer to the United States.
