$8 Million Sought as Ransom for Justices : Costa Rica: Abductors threaten to blow up hostages. Reports of link to Colombian drug traffickers are dismissed.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Gunmen who kidnaped 19 Costa Rican Supreme Court justices threatened Tuesday to blow up their hostages if demands, including an $8-million ransom, are not met.

Calling themselves the “Commando of Death,” the kidnapers set a 3 p.m. Tuesday deadline for a response from the government. But as reporters and police kept a vigil outside the Supreme Court building in downtown San Jose, the deadline passed without apparent incident. The kidnapers set a new deadline for 1 p.m. today (noon PDT).

Late Tuesday, government officials identified the leader of the kidnaping gang as a Costa Rican Justice Department guard under investigation in connection with a car theft ring. The authorities dismissed widespread speculation that the gunmen were connected to Colombian drug-traffickers.

Earlier Tuesday at the Supreme Court, a Red Cross paramedic was seen rushing a tank of oxygen into the building, and a doctor was allowed to enter twice. Before that, the kidnapers released one of the justices, Jesus Ramirez, because of poor health. At least three other justices were said to be complaining of chest pains and other afflictions.

The four gunmen stormed into the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon during a regular weekly session. Nineteen of Costa Rica’s 22 high court judges and five administrative employees were captured.

The kidnapers immediately demanded that the government refrain from cutting off electricity or water, and on Tuesday they elaborated on their demands.

“The lives of many people hang in the balance,” a subdued President Rafael Calderon said Tuesday after an emergency government session called to deal with the crisis. “The institutions of our country hang in the balance.”

The hostage-taking is the third such incident since September in this traditionally peaceful country that, unlike the rest of tumultuous Central America, has remained largely at the margin of unrest and warfare.

None of the previous hostage crises matched the present Supreme Court standoff, however, and it seemed to shake Costa Ricans to the core. Radio broadcasts were full of condemnations by seemingly every group in Costa Rican society, and the debate over Costa Rica’s preparedness for such violence--the country has no standing army--is certain to be renewed.

Calderon confirmed that his government was talking with the “Commando of Death,” but he and other officials seemed reluctant to meet the demands. The gunmen reduced their ransom demand from an original $20 million to $8 million.

“We are not going to beg for anything,” he said. “We have to work with all the calm in the world.”

Calderon said he was allowed to speak by telephone to Supreme Court President Edgar Cervantes. Cervantes was also allowed to speak to a Costa Rican television reporter, who relayed Cervantes’ report that some of the judges have been tied up and attached to explosives.

Ramirez, the justice who was released, said through a relative that the kidnapers threatened several of the judges orally.

The leader of the group identified himself to reporters only as “Charlie” and told reporters by telephone that if the group’s demands are not met, “we are going to blow up everything.”

Public Security Minister Luis Fishman, in a late-night press conference, identified “Charlie” as Gilberto Fallas Elizondo, a Justice Department guard in charge of transporting prisoners and with easy access to the Supreme Court. Fishman said Fallas was recently suspended because of alleged involvement in the theft of government cars.

Fallas, who authorities said was joined by his brother, Guillermo, in the hostage-taking, was identified through fingerprints, Fishman said. The other two gunmen were not identified.

In addition to the ransom, the gunmen are asking for safe passage to an unnamed South American country. Once the first two demands are agreed to, the kidnapers have said they will issue a list of inmates held in Costa Rican jails who must be released.

Before the government identified the hostage-takers, several legislators and other sources had linked the kidnapers to Colombian cocaine traffickers and said they sought the release of associates, including accused trafficker Carlos Urquijo, who was captured here last September as part of an international anti-drug operation called “Green Ice.”

“Charlie” told reporters he has warned authorities that he does not want to see repeated here “what happened in my country.” He apparently was referring to the 1985 kidnaping by leftist guerrillas of Colombia’s Supreme Court. That hostage-taking ended tragically with more than 100 people, including most of the high court, slain.

His reference to “my country” had fueled speculation that the group was Colombian.

“The matter has absolutely nothing to do with (Colombian) narco-trafficking,” Fishman stated Tuesday night.

Costa Rica’s Civil Guard has roped off the Supreme Court complex, and sharpshooters have been stationed on the roofs of nearby buildings. The gunmen and their captives are holed up on the second floor of the court building.

Standoff in Costa Rica

The kidnapers, who stormed the Supreme Court building Monday, have demanded an $8-million ransom for the justices. The heavily armed group calls itself the “Commando of Death.”