Paraguay vice president slain, day of tears and turmoil
Source: AP | Published: Wednesday March 24 3:11:16 PM
ASUNCION, Paraguay: Assailants in camouflage gear have gunned down
Paraguay's vice president on an Asuncion street, plunging the South
American country into political turmoil.
Three men opened fire with automatic weapons on a red sport utility vehicle
carrying Luis Maria Argana to his downtown office yesterday morning.
Argana was hit by four bullets during the barrage of gunfire and died
before paramedics could take him to the hospital, according to a
preliminary medical report.
'He died at the scene,' said Osvaldo Garcia Varesini, director of the
hospital, Sanatorio Americano. The director said one of the bullets
penetrated the heart and severed an artery, causing massive bleeding. He
was also hit in the arm and liver.
Paraguayan TV footage showed the vice president slumped on the back seat,
his white shirt and tie splattered with blood. A bodyguard in the front
passenger seat was also gravely wounded.
The assassination added to the heap of woes troubling Paraguay, which last
month marked the 10th anniversary of a return to democracy with little to
celebrate: political infighting, a protracted economic crisis and endemic
corruption.
President Raul Cubas urged calm in a nationwide address. He ordered the
country's borders closed and began a manhunt for Argana's killers.
'Paraguay and its people are in need of urgency, order, and tranquility,'
Cubas said later Tuesday.
Police held back hundreds of onlookers while forensic experts wearing white
gloves pored over the bullet-riddled sport vehicle. TV footage showed a
bodyguard in the front seat bleeding heavily and breathing with difficulty.
No motive was immediately reported and the gunmen were not identified.
He added that three suspects were being sought, that a torched getaway
truck was found blocks from the scene and that a full investigation was
underway.
Under the president's orders, members of the armed forces patrolled the
streets to keep the peace. Scores of officers blocked some downtown streets
and public transport was temporarily halted.
Last night, Cubas named his brother Carlos Cubas as the country's interior
minister after accepting the resignation of Ruben Arias Mendoza, who didn't
offer a public explanation for his sudden departure.
In his new post, Carlos Cubas will head up the investigation into Argana's
killing.
Some legislators renewed calls to impeach Cubas, now ostracised by many
members of his own party amid bitter infighting.
'We will not rest until Paraguay returns to the state of rule that now does
not exist,' said Mario Paz Castaing, an opposition senator and vice
president of Paraguay's congress.
Congress voted last Thursday to begin impeachment proceedings against
Cubas, alleging he violated the constitution by freeing jailed General Lino
Oviedo, a former army chief sentenced last year to 10 years in prison for a
1996 coup attempt against then-President Juan Wasmosy.
The controversy over Oviedo's release split Paraguay's ruling Colorado
Party, causing a rift between factions led by Argana and Cubas.
Wasmosy yesterday harshly criticized Argana for the turbulent climate
leading up to the assassination. He called Paraguay a country of 'chaos,
violence and blood.'
But Colorado Senator Francisco Jose Appleyard, a former Oviedo lawyer, said
he thought the assassination was 'intended to make it seem as if Cubas and
Oviedo are the authors.'
Funeral preparations were not immediately announced. Hundreds of people,
many of them Argana supporters, waited for word outside the hospital were
his body was taken.
Some raised fists and angrily shouted slogans against the Cubas government
and minor scuffles broke out. But riot police cordoned off the hospital and
broke up fights.
Landlocked Paraguay, which returned to democracy in 1989 after 35 years of
dictatorship, has no rules laying out a process for impeachment.
However, Cubas brushed aside any talk of leaving office before his
five-year term ends.
'I am not considering resigning from office.' He added, 'I will finish out
my mandate,' which began in August.
The US government called the killing 'a heinous act' and urged the
government to investigate.
'There is absolutely no place for violence in the democratic process.'
Neighbouring Brazil closed its borders to help apprehend the killers of
Argana, whose death is a 'sad stain on the historic effort of the
Paraguayan people to consolidate democracy.'
--
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