Oviedo, Lino César

Paraguayan military leader and politician. He was elected as presidential candidate for the Asociación Nacional Republicana (ANR; Colorado Party) in the 1998 elections but was forced to withdraw mid-campaign when imprisoned for ten years for refusing to obey former president Wasmosy's order to resign as head of the army in 1996, after he was accused of attempting to lead a coup against the Wasmosy government. Paraguay in September 1999 withdrew its ambassador to Argentina and its foreign minister resigned, after the Argentine government refused to extradite Oviedo, who was charged with ordering the murder of the Paraguayan vice-president in March 1999. In June 2000 Oviedo was arrested in Brazil, near the Paraguayan border, and again faced an extradition decision.