Post date: Feb 03, 2013 4:13:27 PM
Presidential candidate Lino Oviedo, known in Paraguay for his tumultuous political career, dies in a helicopter crash while campaigning.
ASUNCION, PARAGUAY (REUTERS) - Paraguayan presidential candidate Lino Oviedo, who helped the lead the 1989 coup that overthrew former dictator Alfredo Stroessner, died in a helicopter crash over the weekend.
A retired general known as a dynamic public speaker, the 69-year-old Oviedo was running in the April presidential election in the impoverished and politically unstable South American country.Police rescuers found his body on Sunday (February 3) in the wreckage of a helicopter crash in northern Paraguay where he was traveling for a campaign event. The day, Feb. 3, marked exactly 24 years since the coup that ended Stroessner's dictatorship.
"On behalf of the government, we send our sincere condolences to the family of GeneralLino Cesar Oviedo," Paraguayan President Federico Franco said in a Tweet.
Oviedo ran for the presidency in 1998, naming former finance minister, Raul Cubas as his running mate. However, just before the election, Oviedo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the Stroessner coup. Cubas ran for president in his place, won, and pardoned Oviedo three days after his inauguration.
The move generated controversy throughout the country. Cubas' vice-president, Luis Maria Argana, was leading the anti-Oviedo bloc. As the debate intensified, Argana was murdered, allegedly by a group with suspected ties to Oviedo. Cubas was allegedly linked to the crime and deadly protests broke out, leading to the collapse of Cubas' presidency. Cubas and Oviedo both fled the country for Brazil.
Oviedo returned in June 2004 and was again jailed for the coup attempt, but was released late in 2007 in a surprise court ruling.
He returned to politics as leader of the National Union of Ethical Citizens party and ran against Fernando Lugo in the 2008 presidential election. Oviedo lost by 22 percent.
Lugo was removed from power by Congress in June when lawmakers voted to remove Lugo for failing to keep the peace after 17 police and peasant farmers died in clashes over a land eviction. The leftist leader was a year from completing a five-year term.