Former Roman Catholic Bishop Fernando Lugo Has Admitted Fathering One Child and Hasn't Denied the Other Claims
By Rory Carroll
Guardian (United Kingdom)
April 23, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/23/paraguay-fernando-lugo-paternity
He swept to power as an agent of renewal but Paraguay's bishop turned president, Fernando Lugo, now faces a political crisis and ribald jokes over his power of reproduction.
Three women have come forward in the past two weeks claiming to have had children fathered by Lugo while he was a Roman Catholic bishop, raising questions over his credibility and morals.
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| Paraguay's president Fernando Lugo. Photo by Jorge Adorno |
Lugo cancelled an important trip to Washington planned for tomorrow to deal with the allegations which have stunned one of South America's most conservative and Catholic countries.
The president, 57 and single, has admitted fathering one of the children and has not denied the other two paternity claims. There are rumours of yet more revelations in the pipeline.
The scandal has undermined Lugo's image as a moral force for change who would clean up Paraguay's corrupt and stagnant politics. The charismatic former cleric, known as the "bishop of the poor", was elected last year and joined the region's "pink tide" of leftist rulers.
His ratings have fallen, the government is rattled and the opposition has seized the initiative. "He competed in the elections as an honest person but it turns out he's a fake because while he was a bishop he had a romantic relationship and a child," said Lilian Samaniego, a senator and leader of the opposition Colorado party.
So far there has been no talk of impeachment or resignation.
Commentators said voters were still digesting the news and that the president may profit from a macho, patriarchal culture. "Lugo has given proof of his virility and that is an inherent attribute that a part of the population expects from its leader," political analyst Alfredo Boccia told the Associated Press.
The story broke two weeks ago when lawyers for Viviana Carrillo, 26, filed a paternity suit claiming he had fathered her child, Guillermo, two years ago. The former parishioner said the relationship started when she was 16 and seduced by the bishop's "pretty words, his beautiful expressions".
The president denied having sex with her before she was an adult but admitted the affair. "I recognise that I fathered the child," he told a news conference in the capital, Asuncion. Local media reported that Carrillo and the boy moved into the president's residence this week.
On Monday lawyers for a second woman, Benigna Leguizamon, a 26-year-old soap seller, said Lugo was the father of her six-year-old boy and demanded DNA tests. "The monsignor gave me his support but took advantage of my great need and induced me to have relations," she told local media.
Yesterday, Damiana Moran, a 39-year-old divorcee, said Lugo was the father of her 16-month-old son, Juan Pablo, named after the late pope. The owner of a child day care centre said she campaigned for Lugo in the election and considered him "phenomenal". She had no plans to file suit against him. "He was my ideal of a man and social-political leader," she said.
Lugo resigned in 2004 as bishop but Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation - thus relieving chastity vows - just weeks before his inauguration as president last August. Bishop Rogelio Livieres said church leaders knew of Lugo's affairs but had covered up complaints.
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