Herald Staff

The United States has asked a Costa Rican court to return Huber Matos Araluce to Miami, so he can be tried on Medicaid and Medicare fraud charges.

A court in San Jose agreed last week to start extradition proceedings against Matos, but stopped short of ordering his arrest, according to La Nacion, a Costa Rican daily newspaper. An extradition treaty with Costa Rica recently was ruled unconstitutional by the Costa Rican Supreme Court.

Dan Gelber, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said he could not confirm the report.

Matos is the son Huber Matos Sr., a respected exile leader and founder of Cuba Independiente y Democratica (CID), an organization dedicated to the overthrow of Fidel Castro.

The younger Matos was one of a dozen people charged last year with billing the government for more than $5 million in phony medical bills. He has been living in Costa Rica since January 1993, where he owns a radio station and directs that country's arm of CID.

On Saturday, Matos Sr. denounced the extradition effort, calling it a "lie to discredit me, my son and CID."