Paraguay leader fires top aides after deadly clash

Asuncion, April 2: Paraguay’s President sacked his interior minister and police chief on Saturday following a clash that led to the death of a young activist as rioters angry about electoral reform stormed Congress.

Closed circuit cameras captured the death of 25year-old Rodrigo Quintana, leader of the opposition Liberal Party’s youth branch, who was apparently shot by police early Saturday as they searched the party’s offices in Asuncion for protesters.

About 30 people were injured, including three lawmakers, according to firefighters and an opposition senator. Police said 211 people were arrested, some of them minors.

President Horacio Cartes on Saturday responded by firing interior minister Tado Rojas and police commissioner Crispulo Sotelo.

But foreign minister Eladio Loizaga slammed the unrest as “the work of a violent group that does not understand what democracy is, does not understand tolerance”. “Paraguay’s democracy is stronger than ever,” he said, adding that security forces acted with “otal responsibility."

Furious protesters broke into the Congress late Friday ransacking lawmakers’ offices and starting fires after senators approved a proposal to allow the President to run for reelection.

Opposition leaders denounced the secretive vote on Friday as a “congressional coup” saying it could clear the way for a return to dictatorship in the landlocked South American nation of 6.8 million people.

Right-wing leader Cartes is seeking to amend the Constitution to enable himself to run for office again in 2018 after his current term ends.