Guerillas Turning To Common Crimes

[Clay]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americ....ap/index.html

Italian tourist killed in Colombian resort city
POSTED: 1:55 p.m. EST, February 12, 2007

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- An Italian tourist was fatally shot and her husband seriously injured during a botched mugging in the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena, police said Monday.

Maurizia Ascoli, 51, was shot in the chest Sunday when she and her husband, Gianbattista Traverso, resisted a robbery attempt by two gunmen on a motorcycle a few blocks outside the 16th century walled ramparts that protect Colombia's famed tourist destination.

One suspect has been arrested and an extensive police operation has been mounted to find the other suspect, said Col. Carlos Mena Bravo, head of police in Bolivar state. Authorities have offered a reward of about US$9,000 (euro6,950) for information leading to the arrest of the other suspect.

A bystander rushed Traverso, 71, to a clinic by taxi. He was in stable condition after doctors removed one of his kidneys which was punctured by a bullet, said Dr. Daniel Vargas, head of emergency services at the clinic.

The couple, from Genoa, arrived to Cartagena on Tuesday and during their stay commented to the staff of their hotel that they were interested in buying property in the city, Bravo said.

Although generally spared the violence attributed to the country's four-decade civil conflict, street crime is a major problem in Cartagena, one of Colombia's poorest cities.

Known for its fine restaurants and historic architecture, Cartagena is the crown jewel of Colombia's booming tourism industry. As Colombia's reputation for violence has waned in recent years, cruise ship arrivals to the city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, have more than doubled as part of an overall surge in foreign tourism.

Last year, more than 1 million foreign tourists visited the country -- 13 percent more than in 2005.