Paraguayan Officials Fired Following Two High-Profile Kidnappings - 2004-10-13

Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte has fired his interior minister and top security official after a 10-year-old boy was found dead in the second high-profile kidnapping in recent weeks.

President Duarte announced the dismissals of Interior Minister Orlando Fiorotto and Police Chief Humberto Nunez Wednesday while visiting Germany as part of a tour of Europe.

The reshuffle took place after authorities said they had found the body of a tobacco executive's 10-year-old son in the Asuncion area. The child had been kidnapped on Monday.

The boy's disappearance happened three weeks after gunmen abducted the 31-year-old daughter of former Paraguayan President Raul Cubas. She is still missing.