Paraguay Official Slain

Paraguay's vice president was gunned down by assassins outside his office Tuesday morning, radio reports and a leading lawmaker said.

The radio reports said Luis Maria Argana was entering his office in central Asuncion at 8 a.m. when he was fired on by unidentified assailants.

A senator from the ruling Colorado Party, Juan Carlos Galaverna, told reporters that Argana was mortally wounded and died after the shooting. Argana is a former foreign minister and president of the Supreme Court under ex-dictator Alfredo Stroessner.

"He has 10 bullets in his body and the doctors have confirmed he is dead," Jose Alberto Planas, one of Argana's aides, told reporters.

Paraguayan television showed Argana's red jeep surrounded by police and onlookers. Reporters quoted witnesses as saying three gunmen in a white car swerved in front of the vehicle, threw grenades and sprayed Argana and his driver with bullets.

Distraught Argana followers gathered outside the American Hospital where his body was rushed. President Raul Cubas called an emergency meeting of his cabinet and Congress announced a special session for Wednesday.

News reports said Paraguayan authorities had closed the country's frontiers to help capture the assailants.

The assassination comes a month after Paraguay's congress voted to start impeachment proceedings against Cubas, alleging he violated the constitution by freeing a jailed general.

Congress accused Cubas of abuse of power for an August 1998 decree that freed his ally and mentor, former army chief Lino Oviedo. A military tribunal sentenced Oviedo, 55, to 10 years in prison last March for attempting to oust then-President Juan Wasmosy in 1996.

Landlocked Paraguay returned to democracy in 1989 after 35 years of dictatorship.