Presidential Hopeful Sentenced to 10 Years

A military court sentenced presidential candidate Gen. Lino Oviedo to 10 years in jail for leading an attempted coup in 1996 and ordered his dishonorable discharge from the army. Oviedo, the ruling Colorado Party’s candidate in elections scheduled for May, was sentenced for “crimes against the order and security of the armed forces, and insubordination,” according to a copy of the sentence. As the charges related to a coup attempt, the nation’s Supreme Court of Justice has to give its final say. If the expected appeal to the high court is rejected, the retired officer will be blocked from running for president. Oviedo has been detained since late last year on orders of the tribunal set up by President Juan Carlos Wasmosy to investigate the events of April 1996, when Oviedo holed up in barracks to defy Wasmosy’s order to relinquish his army command.