Chuck DarwinHave you ever smelled a cadaver?’
Family recounts horror after Costa Rican man deported in vegetative state
Much of what happened to #Randall #Gamboa #Esquivel, 52, over his last weeks in federal custody in Texas remains a mystery to his family
In December of 2024, Gamboa crossed the US-Mexico border
but was swiftly detained by US immigration authorities for re-entering American soil unlawfully,
which is considered a felony.
Gamboa was held at two different detention facilities in south Texas.
Nearly 10 months later, in September 2025,
the US government flew the 52-year-old back to Costa Rica on an air ambulance in a vegetative state
and a few weeks later he died.
Much of what happened to Gamboa over his last weeks in federal custody in Texas remains a mystery to his family, Mata said.
When the US government flew him back to Costa Rica, he was non-responsive,
as detailed in US medical records shared with the Guardian.
“When I saw my brother at the airport,
I thought he had been tortured in some type of way
because he was
ill-nourished,
had skin ulcers and dried blood on his body
and had a strong odor,”
Mata said in Spanish, pausing to take deep breaths.
“Have you ever smelled a cadaver?
That’s how my brother smelled when he was deported,” she said.
The Guardian approached the Department of Homeland Security about Mata’s comment about torture but did not receive a response.
Mata said that Gamboa at first spoke frequently with various family members while in ICE custody.
-- But communication stopped abruptly on 12 June.
That would be the last conversation between Gamboa and his family,
although they didn’t know it at the time.
derptron