Nicaraguan diplomat found dead in NYC

NEW York (AP):

A Nicaraguan diplomat whose throat had been slashed was found dead yesterday by his driver, who was picking him up for the United Nations General Assembly's annual meeting.

Cesar Mercado, 34, was found at 10:35 a.m. local time in his apartment in the Bronx. The driver found the door ajar and Mercado's body lying just inside the blood-spattered apartment, police said.

"The knife was found on the floor next to him," said Paul Browne, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for public information.

Police were investigating a possible motive, and no suspects were immediately identified.

Employment history

Mercado came to the US in 2001 to work as an assistant in the office of Nicaragua's ambassador to the United Nations, a friend said. He was single and his family was in Nicaragua.

He eventually became consul general, working with passports and immigration visas. The assistant to the ambassador said the mission could not immediately release any information.

Mercado's friend Amparo Amador said he was like a son to her. Recently, she had urged him to go to the doctor because he looked thin, and he had been diagnosed with diabetes.

The two went to the wedding of another friend in Brooklyn just six days ago, where he danced and had fun.

"He had no enemies. He was loved by everyone who knew him," she said in Spanish. "When I first heard of his death, I thought he must've died from natural causes because there would be no way he could be killed."