Friday April 13, 12:43 PM
Former Argentine senator sets self on fire
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - A former Argentine senator is in a stable but critical condition after dousing himself with gasoline and setting himself on fire in front of a government building.
Manuel De Armas, who served as a senator for the centrist Radical Party in 1987-91, set himself on fire in his car in a suicide attempt whose reasons are still unknown.
"He is in critical condition and his situation is serious. Very serious," a doctor at San Martin Hospital told reporters on Thursday, adding that De Armas was nevertheless "stable."
De Armas, 51, had burns on 70 percent of his body after the incident, which took place in front of the government building for Buenos Aires province, in the city of La Plata on Tuesday. He managed to walk out of his car before bystanders put out the flames.
A photographer who snapped De Armas' picture as he burned told La Nacion newspaper the former senator yelled "Othacehe pressures me!" during the incident in what appears to be an unknown reference to Raul Othacehe, the government minister for Buenos Aires province.
-- (wh@t.drives a person), April 13, 2001