Managua's newly "elected" mayor, Alexis Argüello committed suicide with a shot to the chest around 1:30 this morning.
He was a three-time champion boxer, only to have all his riches stolen from him in the 80s by the Sandinistas, as they did to many of the wealthy in Nicaragua at that time. He more recently joined the Sandinista Party and "won" the office of mayor in an election that most believe to have been highly fraudulent.
He is known to have a history with drug and alcohol addiction, which may be an indicator of underlying depression that could have led to his suicide. This is merely my speculation, no news has come out as to why he might have done this yet.
This is of course very sad news. Although I was not happy about his election, I saw him mostly as someone the Sandinistas could easily manipulate and felt sorry he was so easily taken advantage of. He appeared to be a soft-spoken and kind-hearted man. My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones.
Alexis Argüello 1952-2009
1 comment:
Good article in Time magazine: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1909965,00.html
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