A water engineer, Richardo Munguia was a citizen of both Switzerland and El Salvador. He joined International Committee of the Red Cross in 1999 and served in Colombia, the Republic of Congo and Angola.

He was fatally shot on March 27, 2003 by gunmen while on assignment with several Afghan colleagues in Uruzgan province of Afghanistan, although another account placed the incident at a Taliban checkpoint in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar. He was 39.

This marked the first murder of a foreign aid worker in Afghainstan in at least five years. Muguia's murder sparked concerns that security issues would prevent aid workers from reaching more of Afghanistan's most vulnerable people.

According to Abdul Salam, who witnessed Munguia's murder, after stopping Munguia and his three-vehicle convoy, gunmen made a mobile phone call to Mullah Dadullah. When the conversation ended the gunmen shoved Munguia behind one of the vehicles, siphoned gasoline from the tanks and used it to set the vehicles on fire. Munguia was then executed. The gunmen then allegedly told the others: "You are working with kafirs (unbelievers). You are slaves of Karzai and Karzai is a slave to America....This time we will let you go because you are Afghan, but if we find you again and you are still working for the government we will kill you."

On April 21, 2003, U.S special forces raided a location in a southern Afghan. The raid was aimed at catching those responsible for Munguia's murder. In the raid, one suspected was killed and seven others were detained.