Paraguay ex-dictator Stroessner, 93, dies in exile

BRASILIA, Brazil, Aug 16 (Reuters) Former Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner died today in a hospital in the Brazilian capital Brasilia, where he has lived in exile since being toppled in a 1989 military coup, the hospital said.

Stroessner, 93, had been in intensive care for several days following a hernia operation.

''He has just died,'' a spokesman for the Santa Luzia hospital told Reuters.

Stroessner was synonymous with authoritarian rule in Latin America for decades. Corruption and human rights abuses were rampant during his 34-year rule.

He also gave refuge to high-ranking Nazis after World War Two and to fellow dictators such as Nicaragua's Anastasio Somoza.

The son of a German immigrant and a Paraguayan peasant, he has been living in a luxury residential area of Brasilia since his overthrow.

REUTERS BDP BST2120