The incident involved Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves and filmmaker Christian Bulgarelli. A video of their altercation at the Sapore Trattoria restaurant in San José became public.
Sapore Trattoria released a statement clarifying that they provided the security footage to the Public Ministry on March 24th, only after receiving a court order. They deny any involvement in the video's subsequent release to the media.
The video shows President Chaves confronting Bulgarelli, who is a key witness in an ongoing investigation into alleged misuse of public funds by Chaves.
One video shows Chaves approaching Bulgarelli, while another, shorter video includes audio of Chaves' words, which appear to be an attempt to de-escalate the situation.
Bulgarelli's testimony is relevant to an investigation into possible charges of concusión (extortion) against President Chaves and the Minister of Culture, Jorge RodrÃguez Vives. This case, number 25-000019-0033-PE, carries a potential sentence of up to eight years in prison.