Luis María Argaña

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Luis María del Corazón de Jesús Dionisio Argaña Ferraro was a prominent politician in Paraguay and influential member of the Colorado Party until his assassination on 23 March 1999.

Luis Argaña served in a number of important national positions during previous administrations before running an ultimately unsuccessful bid for president in the country's 1998 election, losing in a bitterly contested primary election against Paraguayan General Lino Oviedo. Due to the General's involvement in a failed coup attempt in 1996, Oviedo was imprisoned before the 1998 general election. Oviedo's running mate, Raúl Cubas, became the de facto candidate for the Colorado Party, but lacked the widespread support that Oviedo commanded. Luis Argaña was selected as Cubas' running mate, the pair subsequently being elected to office by a wide margin.

There was widespread belief that Cubas, a relatively weak political leader, was merely a puppet for the disgraced General Oviedo, and one of Cubas' first actions as president was to grant Oviedo a pardon from prison, defying the Paraguayan Supreme Court. Shortly thereafter, the legislative branch began an investigation that would ultimately lead to impeachment proceedings against President Cubas.

With Cubas' impeachement pending, Argaña was set to succeed him as president. However, assailants ambushed the vice president's vehicle just outside of his Asunción home on the morning of March 23, 1999, peppering the SUV with multiple rounds of gunfire before escaping. President Cubas ordered a lockdown of the country's borders. In the wake of the killing, the subsequent riots that took place in the capital area, and his impending impeachment, Cubas resigned the presidency on March 28, fleeing the country and seeking and ultimately being granted political asylum in neighboring Brazil.

Argaña's assassination is yet to be clarified, but popular theory holds that the ousted General Oviedo (who had been granted asylum in Argentina shortly after his release from prison) masterminded the crime. Although Cubas was generally viewed to be easily manipulated by Oviedo's influence, his impeachment would mean Argaña would ascend to power, whereas Argaña was one of Oviedo's staunchest political rivals. The belief that Argaña was assassinated to prevent an Oviedo opponent from running the country was strengthened when the Paraguayan Congress sought to extradite the general from Argentina, without success.

[edit] Criticism

Argaña was a judge during the most recent Paraguayan military dictatorship. His career attracted the attention of General Stroessner himself, who appointed him to head the Judicial system. He has been accused of turning a blind eye to cases of torture and political killings. In recent years, former dissident Dr. Joel Filártiga accused Argaña of blocking the exhibition in Paraguay of the made-for-tv movie One Man's War, starring Anthony Hopkins, Ruben Blades, Norma Aleandro and Fernanda Torres, which depict one of such trials.

As a candidate, Argaña has been criticised for bringing Stroessner's era officials back to political life, through his faction Colorado Reconciliation Movement.