Lugo, Fernando

Born in a minor religious, opposition to the Stroessner regime family. While working as a teacher in an industrial district, I saw many religious people who could not meet with a priest. This led him to enroll in the Verbists' Seminary in 1970 . August 15, 1977 ordained to the priesthood. He worked as a missionary in Ecuador for five years; returning to Paraguay, he was expelled in 1983 and continued his education in Rome . In 1987 he returned to his homeland. On April 17, 1994, he became the bishop of the Diocese of San Pedro , located in the poorest part of the country, and was nicknamed the "bishop of the poor." On January 11, 2005, he resigned from his position to enter politics.

Joining the Christian Democratic Party in 2007 , which is part of the Patriotic Alliance for Change coalition, became a left-wing candidate in the 2008 presidential election . April 20, 2008 won by simple majority of the votes of the candidate of the ruling Colorado party, Blanca Ovelar, becoming the second left president of Paraguay (the first was Rafael Franco in 1936-1937) and ended the 61-year reign of the Colorado party.

On August 15, 2008, Lugo replaced the leader of the Colorado party, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, as president of the country.

On April 13, 2009, Lugo was forced to admit that when he was a bishop, he broke the vow of celibacy , which is mandatory for Catholic priests, and had a sexual relationship with a 26-year-old girl, from whom he had a son. Pope Benedict XVI freed him from the vow of celibacy on July 31, 2008, and his son was born on May 4, 2007 ^{[1] [2]} . Despite calls for resignation in connection with this scandal, Lugo said that he would remain at his post until August 15, 2013 , that is, until the expiration of his presidential term ^[3] .

For the failure to address the agrarian question, one of the main problems of Paraguay, the Lugo government was attacked by the left-wing partisans of the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP) ^[4] . On the other hand, the ultra-right Paraguayan businessman of Chilean origin Eduardo Aviles called for an armed struggle against the communists, left-wing forces and in fact against President Lugo.

On November 5, 2009, on the orders of Lugo, the commander of the land forces, General Juan Oscar Velasquez, the commander of the Air Force, General Dario Davalos, and the commander of the national fleet, Rear Admiral Claudelino Recalde, were suspected of preparing the coup ^[5] .

On June 22, 2012, the Senate of Paraguay announced the impeachment of Lugo in connection with a police clash with landless peasants, which was announced by the opposition as a result of the land reform carried out by the president ^{[6] [7]} . The president was Vice President Federico Franco .

• Information on the website of the Catholic hierarchy (eng.)