The man who led Argentina out of the era of military dictatorship, Raul Alfonsin, is said to be very ill and to be having difficulty breathing.
Argentina's first president to be democratically elected after the "Dirty War" military dictatorship, Raul Alfonsin, has died of illness aged 82.
Doctors say Mr Alfonsin, 82, has pneumonia and lung cancer. His son Ricardo says he is "very fragile".
He had suffered from pneumonia and lung cancer and last appeared in public in October, when the current president unveiled a bust in his honour.
He was the first democratically-elected president after the military regime that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.
A medical team had been tending to him at his home in Buenos Aires.
Mr Alfonsin last appeared in public in October when the current president unveiled a statue in his honour.
Mr Alfonsin was elected president in 1983, after the fall of the military regime which had held power since 1976.
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is among the senior officials who have been inquiring after Mr Alfonsin's health.
Mr Alfonsin was president from 1983, when the generals lost power after British troops drove invading Argentinian forces out of the Falkland Islands, or Malvinas. He left power in 1989.
Under the generals' rule, thousands of suspected left-wingers were killed or disappeared.
Ricardo Alfonsin said his father's health worsened on Monday.
While his health improved in the next hours, the former president remains "very fragile", the Buenos Aires Herald quoted Ricardo Alfonsin as saying.
