Managua - Managua Mayor Alexis Arguello has committed suicide on Wednesday, a radio station of the ruling Sandinista Party reported. According to La Nueva Radio Ya, Arguello, 57, shot himself in the head early Wednesday, at his home in a southern suburb of Nicaragua capital Managua.
No further details were immediately made public about the former boxer's death.
Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo, the wife of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, confirmed the death of the mayor, but she did not say he had killed himself.
"We are shocked, hurt, but with our hearts full of pride over the memory of the greatest sports glory in the history of Nicaragua," Murillo told La Nueva Radio Ya.
Born in Managua to an extremely poor family, Arguello was a three- time boxing world champion. He was the first top Nicaraguan sportsman. In his career, he won 82 fights, 65 of them by KO, with only eight defeats.
He had his assets confiscated by the Sandinista revolution that ousted dictator Ansatasio Somoza in 1979. However, the Sandinista return to power in 2006 was a chance for Ortega to make things up to the boxer-turned-politician.
Ortega compensated him financially for his losses and put him forward as a candidate to become mayor of Managua. He won the mayoral election amid claims of fraud from the right-wing opposition, and he took office in January.
Arguello had suffered from an addiction to drugs and alcohol, and he had in the past admitted to having tried to commit suicide amid family and financial problems.
