Argentine folk singer shot dead

One of Latin America's most admired folk singers, Facundo Cabral, was killed when three car loads of gunmen ambushed the vehicle in which he was riding. Authorities said the performer's concert promoter was apparently the target.

The Interior Minister, Carlos Menocal, said the Argentine singer and songwriter was on his way to Guatemala's airport when cars flanked it on both sides and gunmen opened fire as a third vehicle blocked it from the front.

Cabral, 74, rose to fame in the early 1970s, one of a generation of singers who mixed political protest with literary lyrics and created deep bonds with an audience struggling through an era of revolution and repression across Latin America. President Alvaro Colom said he had called his Argentine counterpart, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, to tell her of the killing.