Chinchilla wants to extradite Costa Ricans, new laws to fight drug trafficking

President Laura Chinchilla (archive photo)

November 30th, 2012 (InsideCostaRica.com) Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla says she wants to extradite Costa Ricans who are wanted in foreign countries, as well as to allow agents of the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) to listen in on telephone wiretaps.  The law currently forbids the extradition of Costa Rican citizens, and only judges are able to listen in on wiretaps.

The announcement was made during a meeting with the Inter-American Commission for Drug Abuse Control (CICAD), held in Costa Rica.

The President also proposed to increase prison terms for organized crime, as well as to suggest to the United Nations that it consider drug trafficking as much of a threat to world peace as terrorism.

Chinchilla also announced that in February, she would be sending a bill to the Legislative Assembly, which would make it easier to confiscate assets from people or companies who cannot explain their legal origin.

As some of these changes in law would require constitutional reforms, the president said she is prepared for the bills to spend several months in Congress.

Chinchilla said that proposing these changes in the law, as well as questioning the region’s current drug control strategy, “is an act of bravery.”