Gilbert Bell, better known today as "Macho Coca," allegedly used a network of docks, fishermen and bribed public officials to build himself a drug trafficking empire, but until last week no one could prove it.
LIMÓN – The name “Macho Coca” is well-known in Costa Rica’s Caribbean port city of Limón. His real surname is Bell, and for many years locals quietly gossiped about his suspected involvement in drug trafficking. Macho Coca also was a target of a long investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The highest tides of the year along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast flooded hundreds of homes in the early hours of Tuesday and Wednesday, mostly in Puntarenas province.
Thomas Russell Tomlinson, a 68-year-old U.S. citizen and Costa Rican resident, died from injures sustained when the boat he was traveling in collided with another boat near the Caribbean town of Parismina around 4:00 p.m. Thursday, according to OIJ spokeswoman Paula Madrigal.
More than two months after his father disappeared, Jeff Hogue hasn’t lost hope. As Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) continue to search for Brian Hogue, who has been missing since June, Jeff Hogue traveled to Costa Rica to meet with his father's friends in search of clues to his whereabouts.
A Costa Rican appeals court has called for a retrial in the murder case of sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora. Seven men were acquitted of his murder in January after a severely botched trial.
