ASUNCION, Paraguay, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Paraguay's president installed new interior minister Rogelio Benitez Vargas Wednesday after the murder of the daughter of former President Raul Cubas.
Current President Nicanor Duarte Frutos said the "changes were being made (for Paraguay) to become more effective" in law enforcement, ABC Color newspaper reported in its online addition.
Some 30 senior police officials were also sacked due to their failure to follow up tips that could have saved the life of Cecilia Cubas, who was found dead earlier this month in a house in Asuncion.
The 32-year-old Cubas was abducted Sept. 21 by armed gunmen. Her father reportedly paid her captors $800,000 in ransom, but never heard from them again.
Authorities have arrested six people in the kidnapping and killing. One of them, Osmar Martinez allegedly was in contact with Rodrigo Grande, the "foreign minister" of the Marxist rebel organization the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARCs.
Grande was captured in Venezuela in December, a move that caused a diplomatic spat between Colombia and Venezuela.
Venezuela has agreed to cooperate with the investigation into a possible FARC-Martinez connection.
While FARC often kidnaps prominent people at home and holds them for ransom, they have not been known to do it in other countries.
