In an interview with The Tico Times, former Medellín cartel hit man John Jairo Velázquez Vásquez, aka “Popeye,” says he loves Costa Rica, and his former boss used to park his drug airplanes here.
Suspected Colombian drug cartel leader Joel Jermain Branford was quietly extradited to the United States from Costa Rica last week, where he is wanted on international drug trafficking charges, an official at Costa Rica's Prosecutor's Office confirmed on Monday.
Mexican and Colombian drug cartels have infiltrated Costa Rica's judicial system, the country's top prosecutor said Friday, following the arrest of a high-profile judge accused of working for drug traffickers.
