The leader of Panama’s largest drug trafficking group has been arrested in Costa Rica and is set to be extradited to the United States, although this is unlikely to heavily disrupt the cocaine pipeline through Central America.

On February 11, security forces in Costa Rica detained Jorge Rubén Camargo Clarke, alias “Cholo Chorrillo,” as he drove in the central town of Grecia, Panama’s National Police posted on Twitter. Authorities in Costa Rica had seemingly been tracking him since October 2021 but he had allegedly been hiding in the country since as early as April 2021, while continuing to coordinate drug trafficking activities in Panama, according to Costa Rican media reports citing Interpol.  More…