on april 10, 1957, the 16th anniversary of the founding of the independent state of croatia, the 67 year old pavelić was shot and seriously wounded by an unknown assailant in buenos aires. the operation was attributed to tito's yugoslav intelligence, although the anniversary also suggested an attempt at revenge by a chetnik activist. despite having a bullet in his spine, pavelić elected not to be hospitalized. two weeks later, the argentine government agreed to the tito government's request to extradite pavelić, and he went into hiding. although there were reports that he had fled to work for the stroessner regime in paraguay, pavelić's whereabouts remained unknown until late 1959, where it was learned that he had been granted asylum in spain. pavelić died on 28 december 1959, at the german hospital in madrid, reportedly from complications due to the bullet in his spine.