Paraguay Seeks Ex-General’s Arrest

ASUNCION, Paraguay —  A Paraguayan judge asked Interpol to capture former Gen. Lino Oviedo, exiled in Argentina, for his role in the deaths of six protesters last month, Foreign Minister Miguel Abdon Saguier said Saturday.

Oviedo fled Paraguay last week after the impeachment and eventual resignation of President Raul Cubas Grau, who freed the former army chief in August. Oviedo was serving a 10-year jail sentence for leading a failed coup in 1996.

Saguier told local radio that Judge Gustavo Ocampos asked that Oviedo be captured for his role in the killings after one of the slain protesters’ parents filed a complaint.

The six demonstrators were shot by snipers March 26, and more than 200 others were wounded in riots and during protests against Cubas and Oviedo, who have been blamed for the March 23 assassination of political rival Vice President Luis Maria Argana.

Cubas and Oviedo have denied involvement in the death of Argana, who led a rival faction against the president and former general for control of Paraguay’s long-ruling Colorado Party.

Argana had wanted Oviedo jailed for the ’96 coup attempt and Cubas impeached for illegally freeing the ex-general.

Cubas, who resigned a day before the Senate was to vote to remove him from office, fled to Brazil. Oviedo was granted political asylum in Argentina.