Roberto Emilio Arias (26 October 1918 – 22 November 1989),[1] known as "Tito", was a Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat and journalist who was the husband of ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn.
Born in 1918, Arias was educated at the Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey, United States, and at St John's College, Cambridge, England.
In 1959, he and Fonteyn were charged with attempted gun-smuggling from their yacht off the coast of Panama and he was accused of fomenting a revolt against President Ernesto de la Guardia Jr. She was immediately deported to England; Arias took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy for two months and was then given safe conduct out of the country.
Two months later, he was shot in an argument with a friend and former political associate, Alberto Jiménez, on a street corner in a suburb of Panama City.
Colette Clark, a close friend who worked with Fonteyn on Royal Academy of Dance galas, said: People said it was such a tragedy, his being shot.