Ricardo Emanuel Salume Barake, Romania’s honorary consul in El Salvador, was found dead in his home in San Salvador, local authorities said on Sunday.

His body was discovered bound and gagged at his house located in the Salvadorian capital, and the police are currently investigating his death, according to a police spokeswoman cited by Reuters. According to Tweet of the attorney general’s office, the death is being investigated as a homicide.

Ricardo Emanuel Salume Barake was Romania’s only diplomatic representative in El Salvador, according to the country’s foreign ministry.

This is the second time this year when an honorary consul is killed in El Salvador. In late May this year, Panama’s consul in the country was found dead in his vehicle, with a bullet wound to the head.

El Salvador has been facing a large increase in the number of violent crimes. Violence killed more than 2,800 people between January 1 and June 13, 2016, 12.5% more than in the same period the previous year, according to data from Policia Nacional Civil, reports local Agerpres.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com