Final farewell for Argentine folk singer Cabral (AFP)

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) – Argentina bade farewell Wednesday to one of its most beloved entertainers, the folk singing troubadour Facundo Cabral, who was gunned down at the weekend in Guatemala at the age of 74.

The body of the La Plata-born native, who was famously nomadic, was taken to a cemetery 32 kilometers (20 miles) north of Buenos Aires for cremation at an intimate private ceremony with just family and close friends in attendance.

The size of the gathering was in stark contrast to the huge outpouring of emotion seen across the region since Cabral was shot and killed by gunmen on Saturday evening on his way to the main international airport in Guatemala.

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner announced three days of national mourning and fans turned up in their droves to pay final respects as Cabral's coffin was displayed in the Teatro ND Ateneo in the heart of Buenos Aires after his body was flown home from Guatemala on Tuesday.

"His homeland was not Argentina but the entire world," said Maria del Carmen, 70, on a street jammed with television trucks. "I had to be here: he died for peace and love."

The closed coffin, which lay in state for more than 24 hours before the cremation ceremony, was draped in an Argentine flag and flowers from fans littered the floor. Cabral's widow, Venezuelan psychologist Silvia Pousa, has not revealed what will be done with his ashes.

Officials believe Cabral's promoter and driver, Nicaraguan businessman Henry Farina, was the real target of Saturday's attack, which sources say may have been drug-related.

Farina, who was wounded in the shooting, is recovering in hospital under heavy police guard, and is considered a key witness.

Two people have been arrested in connection with the shooting.

Guatemalan Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz said Elkin Hernandez had led the band of gunmen, while the second suspect, Wilfred Arnold, managed a nightclub owned by Farina and is accused of masterminding the attack.

A global nomad who claimed to have visited 150 countries and said he was deeply inspired by the US poet Walt Whitman, Cabral's music was largely about peace, love and everyday pleasures and pain.

His songs include the 1970s hit "I'm not from here nor there" and are frequently performed by other Spanish-language performers. He was deemed "World Peace Messenger" in 1996 by UNESCO.

The broad daylight attack sent shockwaves through Latin America, taking down one of the region's undisputed stars and shining a spotlight on the murky underworld of Guatemala's lawless maras or drug gangs.

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Guatemalans arrested for murder of Argentine singer (Reuters)

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – Police arrested two men on Tuesday suspected of murdering Argentine folk singer Facundo Cabral in Guatemala as part of a plot by organized crime gangs to kill his music promoter.

The two Guatemalans, Elgin Vargas and Wilfred Stokes, were accused of opening fire on a car carrying 74-year-old Facundo Cabral, who sang protest songs famous across Latin America, as he headed to the airport on Saturday after a concert in Guatemala City.

Cabral's music promoter Henry Farina, a Nicaraguan businessman who owns a chain of strip clubs, was the target of the attack, said Guatemala Interior Minister Carlos Menocal.

Farina, who was driving the car at the time of the shooting, was badly injured and is still in critical condition the hospital.

"One (of the killers) is the head of a band of assassins," Attorney General Claudia Paz told reporters. "He put together this group to commit murders."

The two men were caught on tape by security cameras at Cabral's hotel and also along the highway on the way to the airport.

President Alvaro Colom has said organized crime gangs were behind the hit.

The motive for the attack was not yet clear, authorities said, although they believe the criminal mastermind is likely a foreigner from elsewhere in Central America.

Guatemala is one of the most violent countries in the hemisphere and is a major transshipment point for drug traffickers.

Cabral's body was sent home to his Argentina as fans and Latin American politicians expressed sadness over his death.

(Reporting by Mike McDonald)

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Argentine singer Facundo Cabral killed in Guatemala (Reuters)

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – Argentine singer Facundo Cabral, one of the stars of Latin American folk music, was shot dead in Guatemala City early on Saturday when gunmen riddled his car with bullets, authorities said.

Cabral, who rose to fame in the 1970s as a protest singer, was on his way to the airport when three vehicles boxed in his white Range Rover and opened fire, killing him and injuring his driver, Guatemala's Interior Minister Carlos Menocal said.

Police earlier said the driver was killed.

Born to a poor family in 1937, the outspoken Cabral was best known for his 1970 song "No Soy De Aqui, Ni Soy De Alla," ("I'm Not From Here, I'm Not From There Either") which was covered by many other artists including Julio Iglesias.

Cabral went into exile in Mexico during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship. His songs later turned more spiritual and he continued to fill concert halls across Latin America. He had been in the Central American country on tour.

Argentine television stations interrupted their broadcasts with news of the 74-year-old singer's death.

Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom vowed swift action.

"We will find these criminals and bring them to justice," he told Argentine radio.

Colom said he spoke to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez to offer his condolences for the killing, the motive for which was unclear. Guatemala, one of the region's poorest countries, has one of Latin America's highest murder rates.

Guatemalan authorities said the gunmen peppered Cabral's car with 18 bullets in an exchange of fire with the singer's security detail, which was in a separate vehicle.

His driver, businessman Henry Farina, was injured, along with one person from Cabral's security detail. Enrique Vaca Narvaja, Argentina's consul to Guatemala, told Argentine television Farina may also have been a target.

Cabral was mourned by fans across Latin America. Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman paid tribute to the singer.

"The murder of Facundo Cabral in Guatemala brings us great sadness," he wrote on his Twitter account. "Adios amigo!"

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez followed suit: "We are weeping with Argentina."

Edgar Palacios, 54, a fan in Guatemala City, said the singer would not be forgotten.

"Facundo Cabral died but his music will never die, just like John Lennon died but his music never died," he said. "Cabral wasn't just from one country. He was a universal man."

Guatemala has been racked by incursions from Mexican drug gangs, notably the brutal Zetas cartel.

Colom has struggled to contain the violence and Cabral's murder is an embarrassment to the president just two months before a first round of presidential elections which polls show his center-left National Union of Hope party (UNE) may lose. Colom himself is barred by law from seeking re-election.

(Additional reporting by Alejandro Lifschitz and Walter Bianchi in Buenos Aires; Writing by Dave Graham and Jason Lange; Editing by Vicki Allen and Doina Chiacu)

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