Former Roman Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo won a historic victory in Paraguay’s presidential election today, ending more than six decades of one-party rule with a mandate to help the nation’s poor and indigenous.

ALFREDO Stroessner, the anti-communist general who ruled Paraguay with a mix of force, guile and patronage for 35 years before his ousting in 1989, died in exile yesterday aged 93.

Alfredo Stroessner, the canny anti-communist general who ruled Paraguay with a blend of force, guile and patronage for 35 years before his ousting in 1989, died in exile today. He was 93.

SURVIVORS of an inferno in a crowded supermarket said locked doors slowed their escape from the fire that killed at least 311 people in Paraguay's worst disaster in more than half a century.

An exploding gas canister in a food department may have fuelled a fire that killed up to 340 people in a crowded supermarket in Paraguay’s worst disaster in more than half a century.