Desi Bouterse, the former dictator and later elected president of Suriname, who became a fugitive of justice for the killing of political opponents, has died at 79, the government said Wednesday.
Still popular with the poor and working class of the South American nation, Bouterse -- who died Tuesday -- rose to power after a 1980 coup as a young sergeant major in the army. He stepped down in 1987 under international pressure in the wake of political violence he was accused of orchestrating.
