State Department Is Offering a $500,000 Reward For 'Diablo,' Costa Rica's Most-Wanted Fugitive

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the State Department announced a $500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Alejandro Arias-Monge, the alleged leader of a transnational criminal organization and Costa Rica's most wanted fugitive.

According to the DEA, Arias-Monge — also known as "Diablo," or Devil — is wanted in Costa Rica on multiple charges, including drug trafficking, robbery, aggravated homicide and money laundering. The agency said he has conspired with drug traffickers and organizations to move "multi-hundred-kilogram loads of cocaine" from Colombia through Central America and Mexico, and into the United States.

Costa Rican authorities had been seeking cooperation from the U.S. government to apprehend Arias-Monge since August 2024, according to La Nación.

Michael Soto Rojas, deputy director of Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Agency, said Arias-Monge evades law enforcement by hiding in mountainous areas near the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. He was released from prison in October 2016 after serving pretrial detention related to two homicide cases. His whereabouts have been unknown since.

Authorities in Costa Rica and the DEA said Arias-Monge's criminal network has cells operating in all seven provinces of the country. The group has also used social media to intimidate the public, posting images of firearms, threats against government officials and videos of killings, according to officials.

"I'm sure this individual is trembling right now," Soto Rojas said. "He's going to start worrying about who might betray him. Why not a family member? Why not a friend or an accomplice?", suggesting the U.S. reward could be enough to trigger a betrayal from within Arias-Monge's inner circle.

Soto said Costa Rican authorities have raided dozens of locations in an effort to capture Arias-Monge, but those attempts have so far been unsuccessful.

"This amount of money is very significant, and it's something we cannot offer," he said, referring to the U.S. reward.

The announcement was made by F. Cartwright Weilandla, a senior official with the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. In the statement, another U.S. official said the Trump administration "will not tolerate threats to the safety of the American people or our partners," adding that the United States would "intervene and dismantle" Arias-Monge's organization and bring him to justice.

"He is a criminal who has brought hell to the communities under his control in Costa Rica, and I urge the public to cooperate with authorities to end the demonic reign of the 'Diablo,'" the official said.