Roberto Arias, 72; Panama’s Former Envoy to U.N., England

PANAMA CITY, Panama —  Roberto Arias, a former Panamanian ambassador and the husband of British ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn, has died, sources close to the family said. He was 72.

Arias had been partially paralyzed since a political opponent shot him in 1964. He died of heart failure Wednesday, a day after surgery for cancer, the sources said.

A law graduate of Cambridge University and the son and nephew of Panamanian presidents, Arias was ambassador to the United Nations and to England.

In 1964, he was a member of the legislative assembly, the country’s congress. He owned the newspaper La Hora and was director of the daily Panama America, which are no longer published.

Arias married Fonteyn, a dame commander of the British Empire, in 1954. Since 1981, they had lived on a 500-acre cattle farm on the Pacific Ocean near the village of El Higo, 60 miles southwest of Panama City.

Since retiring in 1979 at the age of 60, Dame Margot has helped care for the farm and has advised the National Ballet Company of Panama.

Arias has four children by a previous marriage.