An Italian entrepreneur was ambushed and shot by two assassins outside the embassy of Italy in San Pedro de Montes de Oca.
Authorities identified the victim as Salvatore Ponzo, a 37-year-old Italian, who at the time of the attack was accompanied by an Ecuadorian woman named Lopez Toaquiza, who apparently was his girlfriend and who was seriously injured in the incident.
According to reports, Ponzo was the owner of the Tierra Nuestra Latina company, which is located in Pital de San Carlos and exports pineapples and other fruits to Europe.
Salvatore himself wrote on the company's website that he had decided to create this business in 2015 to publicize the fruits that are grown in the Americas.
"Tierra Nuestra Latina was born from my years of experience living in Latin American tropical countries, which stand out for their great floral and fruit variety. The contacts I had on each trip with this delicious fruit, led me to dream of a project to take this product, which should be better known because of its quality, around the whole world."
Leaving and entering the country was something common for Salvatore, as is clear by his migratory movements of recent years. Between April 2015 and May of this year he visited the country 14 times and usually his visits lasted more than a week.
According to sources from the company, the businessman spent most of his time in his native Italy and in Spain, but he always took time to come and see how the business was going.
So far, the Judicial Police have not established a possible motive for the homicide.
Source: lateja.cr