Costa Rica Probes US Drug Suspect at 1 February Party
COSTA RICA · SECURITY
Key Facts
- —The country Costa Rica is a Central American democracy of about five million people, popular with US tourists and on cocaine routes to the United States.
- —What happened Chief prosecutor Carlo Díaz said on Monday 5 October he will probe the political ties of a US-wanted drug suspect.
- —The suspect Guobin Tam Zhang, or Juan Carlos Tam Cheong, is a China-born naturalised Costa Rican wanted in Florida for drug trafficking and money laundering.
- —The photo Tam was photographed at President Laura Fernández’s election victory party on 1 February. She says she does not know him.
- —The US link A federal indictment filed in Florida on 19 August cites undercover cocaine deals and US$100,000 in cash delivered in Orlando, La Nación reported.
- —Still open No extradition date has been set, and nobody in the government or the ruling party has been charged with any crime.
Costa Rica’s chief prosecutor will investigate the political ties of a US drug suspect who was photographed at the president’s election victory party. Carlo Díaz announced the inquiry on Monday 5 October, three days after the man’s arrest near San José.
The suspect, Guobin Tam Zhang, faces extradition to the United States under a Florida federal indictment for drug trafficking and money laundering. For US readers, the case reaches into the ruling party of a country that works closely with the DEA and draws many American travellers.
What the Prosecutor Announced
Díaz told La Nación on Monday that he will open an investigation on his own initiative, without waiting for a complaint. “We are going to investigate any other background or relationship this person has at the political level,” he said.
The inquiry will look at money laundering and possible illegal financing of the last election campaign, La Nación reported. Díaz said prosecutors first need a report from the party-finance department of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Costa Rica’s election authority.
He said five devices seized from Tam, four of them phones, have been opened with a judge’s approval. Anything found there could lead to new cases against other people, he added.
To speed the extradition, his office will suspend Tam’s local cases, which Díaz called the usual practice. Front men, corrupt officials or party figures who knowingly took illegal money would still be investigated, he said.
Díaz heads the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which belongs to the Judicial Branch and directs criminal prosecutions. He is seeking a second term, with a Supreme Court vote set for 19 October.
Who the US Drug Suspect Is
The drug suspect, who also uses the name Juan Carlos Tam Cheong, was born in China and later took Costa Rican nationality. He was arrested on Friday 2 October in Granadilla de Curridabat, an eastern suburb of San José, La Nación reported.
He is wanted by the US federal court for Florida’s Middle District, under an indictment filed on 19 August. It covers drug trafficking and money laundering, La Nación reported from the Costa Rican court file on Tuesday 6 October.
The file says the US and Costa Rican inquiry began in October 2025, after a confidential source said Tam offered to launder money. An undercover agent later swapped US$240,000 in Tether, a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency, for cash from him.
Undercover buyers received about 6 kilograms of cocaine on 15 January and about 7 kilograms on 16 February, both seized. Agents told the courier the second load was bound for Florida.
On 4 February, US$100,000 in cash was handed to a contact of Tam in Orlando, the file says. A second Costa Rican, Jeffry Oviedo Cerdas, is wanted in the same case.
Costa Rican prosecutors also link Tam to crime groups in Mexico and Colombia. CRHoy named the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels and Colombia’s Clan del Golfo, all three listed by Washington as Foreign Terrorist Organizations since 2025.
A San José criminal court ordered two months of provisional detention on Monday while the US completes its extradition papers, Teletica and CRHoy reported.
His lawyer, Moisés Chinchilla, said the political questions are “a separate matter that has nothing to do with the process”. He added that US authorities still have to file the documents behind the charges.
On Monday the Ministry of Justice and Peace, which runs Costa Rica’s prisons, ordered him into a maximum-security regime. It cited his alleged links to groups tied to drug trafficking and money laundering, La Nación reported.
The Photo at the Victory Party
Tam appeared in photos from the 1 February celebration at the Aurola hotel in San José, where Fernández marked her election win.
Fernández, of the ruling Pueblo Soberano party, succeeded Rodrigo Chaves and governs for the 2026–2030 term. Her government plans to open a new high-security prison for organised crime on Wednesday 14 October, Teletica reported.
One photo shows Tam with Pilar Cisneros, a former lawmaker who now advises the presidency on communications without pay. Cisneros told La Nación the photo is genuine but that she has never spoken to him.
Fernández spoke on Monday at the opening of a technical high school in Mora, outside San José, and first questioned whether the photo was real. “I do not know this person, I have not the slightest idea who he is,” she said, according to La Nación.
She said about 2,000 people attended the party and that she could not know all of them.
Ruling Party Denies Any Money Link
Pueblo Soberano, led by party president and lawmaker Mayuli Ortega, rejected any suggestion of a financing relationship with him. It offered to hand over any party records the law requires, La Nación reported.
A certificate from the party’s acting treasurer found no donations, contracts, transfers or contributions under three versions of the drug suspect’s name. The party has not explained why he was at the celebration, Teletica noted.
Ortega said the campaign team, not the party, organised such events. Cisneros has said Ortega and party secretary general Freddy González should explain how Tam got in.
Tam’s former partner Kathleen Quirós, a Legislative Assembly employee, then challenged González in a video. “I am not going to say, like Freddy, that I did not know him; I knew him,” she said, CRHoy reported on Tuesday.
What It Means for You
For travellers, nothing changes on the ground. The State Department keeps Costa Rica at Level 2, “exercise increased caution”, citing petty crime and violent crime that also affects tourists.
Díaz calls Tam one of the “invisible narcos”, suspects with no visible criminal profile. He links them to the second phase of his joint work with the DEA.
Costa Rica keeps handing drug suspects to Washington, and it extradited five men to the US on 1 October. For investors and residents, the probe puts the young Fernández government under early pressure over campaign money.
What Is Not Known
No date has been set for any extradition, and the full US charging document has not been published. The Prosecutor’s Office first awaits the election-finance report and has not said whom it will question.
It is also unclear who invited the drug suspect to the celebration. Tam has not been convicted of any crime, and no official or party member has been charged.
More: Costa Rica news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the US drug suspect seen at Costa Rica’s victory party?
Guobin Tam Zhang, also known as Juan Carlos Tam Cheong, is a China-born naturalised Costa Rican. He was arrested on 2 October and faces extradition to the United States under a Florida indictment for drug trafficking and money laundering.
What will Costa Rica’s prosecutor investigate?
Chief prosecutor Carlo Díaz said on 5 October he will look into the US drug suspect’s political ties. La Nación reported the inquiry covers money laundering and possible illegal campaign financing.
Did President Laura Fernández know him?
Fernández said on 5 October that she does not know him. She said about 2,000 people attended her 1 February celebration, and her party says it received no money from him.
Is Costa Rica safe for US travellers?
The case does not affect daily travel. The US State Department rates Costa Rica at Level 2, asking visitors to exercise increased caution because of crime.
Sources: US Department of State, Foreign Terrorist Organizations, 6 October 2026; US Department of State, Costa Rica Travel Advisory, 2 April 2026; La Nación, Fiscalía abrirá investigación de oficio, 5 October 2026; La Nación, Agentes encubiertos, entregas de cocaína y miles de dólares, 6 October 2026; La Nación, Laura Fernández niega conocer a chino-tico, 5 October 2026; La Nación, Ministerio de Justicia ordena envío a máxima seguridad, 5 October 2026; La Nación, PPSO niega vínculos financieros, 5 October 2026; CRHoy, Fiscalía investigará conexiones políticas, 5 October 2026; CRHoy, Expareja de extraditable reprocha a jerarca del PPSO, 6 October 2026; Teletica, ¿Qué hacía extraditable Juan Carlos Tam en celebración de PPSO?, 5 October 2026; Teletica, Gobierno pone fecha a inauguración del CACCO, 4 October 2026; La Nación, ¿Quién habría llevado a extraditable chino-tico a fiesta electoral?, 3 October 2026.
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