MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay sacks ambassador in Buenos Aires

The Paraguayan government sacked over the weekend its ambassador in Buenos Aires following allegations he was an informer for the dictatorial regime of President Alfredo Stroessner, (1954/1989), who worked closely with other military regimes of the region at the time.

Last week at a public hearing in Buenos Aires of the Paraguayan Human Rights Commission investigating abuses committed during the dictatorship of Stroessner, Mr. Fiorotto's name cropped up several times.

Paraguayan Foreign Affairs minister Leila Rachid on confirming the news also admitted that President Nicanor Duarte's decision was influenced by a "suggestion" from Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana who did not rule out declaring ambassador Fiorotto "persona non grata".

"President Duarte on making the decision considered the accusations regarding human rights abuses made public last week in Buenos Aires against ambassador Fiorotto, during a public hearing of the Paraguayan Commission", said Ms Rachid.

Ms Rachid was present at the Buenos Aires hearing of the Truth and Justice Commission investigating human rights abuses during Stroessner's regime and other pre-2003 governments. Hundreds of abuses' accounts are being offered as testimonies for the Commission by Paraguayans in Argentina where almost two million of them live.

Fiorotto refused to sign a resignation letter, a course of action offered as an elegant way out, so President Duarte signed a decree sacking the former ambassador.

"The suggestions made to us by the Argentine government are more than sufficient to allow this decision to be made" Rachid said.

However Fiorotto said the allegations were "infamous and a make up", and hired solicitor and Paraguayan human rights activist Martin Almanda, who said that in the terror archives of the Stroessner regime, unearthed with his help in 1992, there is no mention of the former ambassador's name or of any activity performed by him behalf of the Stroessner regime.

Fiorotto, a close advisor of Paraguayan President Duarte has been a powerful figure within the ruling Colorado Party for years, holding the posts of Interior Minister and member of the binational board managing the Paraguayan-Argentine Yacyreta hydroelectric dam before his appointment as ambassador in Buenos Aires.