Spain`s ambassador to Zimbabwe was beaten to death and left half-naked on the small farm where his body was found early Monday, official sources said.
The sources said the body of Jose Luis Blanco-Briones de Cuellar was found near his parked car on a farm on the outskirts of Harare`s Marlborough suburb. He apparently had been beaten to death with a blunt instrument and was clad only in a shirt when he was found, they said.
In Madrid, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, ”It appears to be a common crime, and we have no reason to believe that it has any relation to politics.”
The Foreign Affairs Ministry in Harare issued a statement saying the circumstances of the death had not been determined.
Diplomatic sources in Harare said they understood Blanco-Briones, 50, left his official residence Sunday night to visit a Spanish family in the city.
