Fernando Lugo

He received his basic education at a religious school in Encarnación, and sold snacks on the streets.[http://www.brasildefato.com.br/v01/agencia/entrevistas/fernando-lugo-trajetoria-pessoal "Interview with Fernando Lugo, by César Sanson for Agência Brasil de Fato"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080329062800/http://www.brasildefato.com.br/v01/agencia/entrevistas/fernando-lugo-trajetoria-pessoal |date=29 March 2008}}

His family was not particularly religious; by his own account, he never saw his father set foot in a church. However, they were active in Colorado Party politics. His maternal uncle, Epifanio Méndez Fleitas, was a co-conspirator in the 1954 Paraguayan coup d'état that helped bring Alfredo Stroessner to power. However, he later fell out of favor with Stroessner and ultimately became a dissident after leaving the country. Fernando's father was imprisoned twenty times, and some of his elder siblings were sent into so-called exile.

His father wanted Lugo to become a lawyer, but at 18 Lugo entered a normal school, and began teaching in a rural community. He was well accepted by the community, which was very religious, but they had no priest. He said later that he was touched by that experience, and so discovered his vocation to the Roman Catholic priesthood. At age 19 he entered a seminary operated by the Society of the Divine Word. He was ordained a priest for the society on 15 August 1977. He was sent to Ecuador, where he served as a missionary for five years. In Ecuador he learned about liberation theology and taught classes at the Centro Biblio Verbo Divino in Quito.

Lugo returned to Paraguay in 1982, and after a year, was sent to Rome for further academic studies. Lugo came back to Paraguay in 1987, two years before the Stroessner dictatorship's fall. Lugo was ordained a bishop on 17 April 1994, and received charge of the nation's poorest diocese, in the San Pedro diocese.

Lugo resigned as ordinary of the Diocese of San Pedro on 11 January 2005. He had requested laicization to run for office. However, the Holy See refused the request on the grounds that bishops could not undergo laicization, and also denied him the requested canonical permission to run for civil elected office.[http://www.episcopal.org.py/comunicados/segundanotaalugo.htm Article regarding Lugo's laicization (in Spanish)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080215114304/http://www.episcopal.org.py/comunicados/segundanotaalugo.htm |date=15 February 2008 }} However, after Lugo won the presidential election, the Church granted his laicization{{cite web|url=http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=59958 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705175756/http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=59958 |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 July 2018 |title=Paraguay's president, ex-bishop, granted lay status |publisher=Catholic World News |date=30 July 2008 |access-date=31 July 2008 }} on 30 June 2008.{{Catholic-hierarchy|bishop|blume|(Layman) Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez, S.V.D.|10 April 2019}}

{{blockquote|Without doubt it is possible to resurrect a country like Paraguay. We are people of hope, of faith, and I won't be the one killing that hope of the people. I do believe we will resurrect this country, a country deeply drowned in misery, poverty and discrimination. Because I do believe Paraguay could be different. I do not lack faith in this flock. Where there is a scream coming from the poor people, where there is sweat, where people are shoeless, we will be there. Because in such people there is a resurrection; if that exists there, then there is resurrection for Paraguay.|Fernando Lugo[http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=691&catID=1 "Rise of the Red Bishop"], The Guardian Weekly, 14 August 2008.}}

Lugo jumped to the national arena by backing peasant claims for better land distribution. During 2006, opinion polls published by Diario ABC Color newspaper showed him as a possible choice for the opposition's presidential candidacy. Known as "the bishop of the poor", Lugo was seen in subsequent months as the most serious threat to the dominance of the Colorado Party on Paraguayan politics. Although he said he found the presidency of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela interesting, he made a point to distance himself from leftist leaders in Latin America, focusing more on social inequality in Paraguay.

On 23 February 2007, a Prensa Latina article noted that the Paraguayan Interior Ministry offered Lugo protection because of the death threats he received during the course of his political activities.{{cite web |url=http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={754FE77C-C350-4C2C-B5F8-41779C905010})&language=EN |title=Noticias de Prensa Latina – Home |publisher=Plenglish.com |date=1 January 1970 |access-date=1 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301064219/http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B754FE77C-C350-4C2C-B5F8-41779C905010%7D%29&language=EN |archive-date=1 March 2009 }}

According to a poll in February 2007, he was the leading contender in the April 2008 presidential election, with more than 37% of the voters' intention.{{cite web|url=http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14863 |title=Angus Reid Consultants |publisher=Angus-reid.com |access-date=1 February 2012 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303093828/http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14863 |archive-date=3 March 2007 }} On 29 October 2007, he registered as member of the small Christian Democratic Party of Paraguay (CDP), which allowed him to file as a candidate.{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.com.py/articulos.php?pid=368460|publisher=ABC Digital|date=31 May 2008|title=El ex obispo Fernando Lugo se afilió al Partido Demócrata Cristiano|language=es}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

The CDP became the core of the Patriotic Alliance for Change, a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties and social movements which backed Lugo for President. Federico Franco of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, Paraguay's largest opposition party, was the candidate for Vice President.{{cite web|url=http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1484375-federico-franco-sera-el-nuevo-presidente-paraguayo|title=¿Quién es Federico Franco, el nuevo presidente paraguayo?|trans-title=Who is Federico Franco, the new Paraguayan president?|language=es|date=22 June 2012|work=La Nación|access-date=22 June 2012|archive-date=19 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119070319/http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1484375-federico-franco-sera-el-nuevo-presidente-paraguayo|url-status=dead}}

The legality of Lugo's candidacy was questioned, because Article 235 of the Constitution forbids clerics of any religious denomination to hold elective office, and Pope Benedict XVI had rejected Lugo's resignation from the priesthood.[http://www.abc.com.py/articulos.php?pid=388865 "Impugnación de Lugo será tratada por el comité ejecutivo de la ANR"]{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ABC Paraguay {{in lang|es}}.

However, on 16 November 2007, President Nicanor Duarte Frutos (also Chairman of the Colorado Party) announced that the Party would not object to Lugo's candidacy,{{cite web|url=http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=54823 |title=Suspended bishop cleared as presidential candidate in Paraguay |publisher=Catholic World News|date=16 November 2007 |access-date=1 February 2012}} In July 2008, the Pope laicized Lugo, which made the question moot.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/world/americas/31brief04.html|title=Paraguay: Special Dispensation for President-Elect|work=The New York Times|date=31 July 2008}}

File:Fernando Lugo George W Bush 20081027 1.jpg on 2008.]]

On 20 April 2008, Lugo won the election by a margin of 10%, gaining a 42.3% vote share. The Colorado Party candidate, Blanca Ovelar, acknowledged that Lugo had an unassailable lead and conceded the race that same night at about 9 pm local time. Two hours later, President Duarte acknowledged that the Colorados had lost an election for the first time in 61 years. Lugo's swearing in marked the first time in Paraguay's history (the country gained independence in 1811) that a ruling party peacefully surrendered power to an elected member from the opposition.{{cite web|url=http://www.ultimahora.com/notas/109808-Nicanor-reconoce-la-derrota-del-Partido-Colorado|title=Nicanor reconoce la derrota del Partido Colorado|work=ultimahora}} He became Paraguay's second leftist president (the first being Rafael Franco, who served from 1936 to 1937), and the first to be freely elected.

File:Morales, Fernandez y Lugo.jpg's Evo Morales and Argentina's Cristina Fernández on 2009.]]

Lugo was sworn in as President on 15 August 2008, saying he would not accept the presidential salary because it "belongs to more humble people" and encouraged other politicians to refuse their salaries as well.[http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hqFLYrBs7ry_miqB_KSjyiqy2J_Q "Latin America's left wing swells with new Paraguay president"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302142123/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hqFLYrBs7ry_miqB_KSjyiqy2J_Q |date=2 March 2009 }}, AFP, 15 August 2008.

He initially named Alejandro Hamed as his foreign minister. During the campaign, Lugo had suggested that he would switch diplomatic relations from the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the People's Republic of China,{{cite web|title=Fernando Lugo Méndez|url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/fernando_lugo_mendez/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=Fernando%20Lugo&st=cse|work=The New York Times|date=29 March 2009|access-date=5 January 2010}} thereby depriving the ROC of its last diplomatic ally in South America. However, after the inauguration, which had been attended by President Ma Ying-jeou from Taiwan, Lugo stated that he had no plans to switch recognition.{{cite web|url=http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1523297/taiwan_president_attends_inauguration_of_paraguayan_president/index.html|title=View|date=17 August 2008|publisher=redOrbit|access-date=5 January 2010}}

On 18 August 2008, Lugo named Margarita Mbywangi, a member of the Aché indigenous ethnic group, as secretary of indigenous affairs, the first indigenous person to hold such a position in Paraguay.{{cite web|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/19/inauguration_of_paraguays_new_president_fernando|title=The Bishop of the Poor: Paraguay's New President Fernando Lugo Ends 62 Years of Conservative Rule|publisher=Democracynow.org|access-date=5 January 2010}}

Two of the main promises of Lugo's presidential campaign were tackling corruption and encouraging land reform. A number of initiatives were introduced to improve the lives of Paraguay's poor, such as investments in low-income housing,{{cite web|url=https://economics.rabobank.com/globalassets/documents/2011/januari/paraguay-20110.pdf|title=Country report - Paraguay|date=January 2011|author=Herwin Loman|publisher=Rabobank}} the introduction of free treatment in public hospitals,{{cite web |url=http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44857 |title=PARAGUAY: Mixed Results for Lugo's First 100 Days – IPS |publisher=Ipsnews.net |date=25 November 2008 |access-date=1 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005044658/http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44857 |archive-date=5 October 2011 }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.bti-project.org/countryreports/lac/pry/2012/#chap10 |title= BTI 2012 {{!}} Paraguay Country Report |access-date=15 November 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414110612/http://www.bti-project.org/countryreports/lac/pry/2012/%23chap10 |archive-date=14 April 2013 |url-status=dead }} and the introduction of cash transfers for Paraguay's most impoverished citizens.{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/node/13579202?story_id=13579202|newspaper=The Economist|title=The boy and the bishop|date=30 April 2009}}

• Minister of Foreign Relations: Alejandro Hamed Franco,{{cite web |url=http://www.portalguarani.com/440_alcibiades_gonzalez_delvalle/20364_el_gobierno_de_fernando_lugo__por_alcibiades_gonzalez_delvalle.html |title=El Gobierno de Fernando Lugo |year=2013 |website=Portal Guaraní |access-date=1 May 2017 |language=es}} Hector Lacognata{{cite web |url=http://m.ultimahora.com/fernando-lugo-designa-al-nuevo-canciller-paraguayo-reemplazo-hamed-n217281.html |title=Fernando Lugo designa al nuevo canciller paraguayo en reemplazo de Hamed |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=29 April 2009 |website=Diario Última Hora |language=es}} and Jorge Lara Castro{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.com.py/nacionales/lara-castro-reemplaza-a-lacognata-en-cancilleria-235276.html |title=Lara Castro reemplaza a Lacognata en Cancillería |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=22 May 2014 |website=Diario ABC Color |language=es}}
• Minister of Finance: Dionisio Cornelio Borda
• Minister of Internal Affairs: Rafael Filizzola (PDP){{cite web |url=http://www.abc.com.py/nacionales/cuarto-ministro-del-interior-de-la-era-lugo-414784.html |title=Cuarto ministro del interior de la era Lugo |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=16 June 2012 |website=Diario ABC Color |language=es}}
• Minister of National Defence: Luis Bareiro Spaini, Cecilio Pérez Bordón and Catalino Luis Roy{{cite web |url=http://www.paraguay.com/nacionales/quienes-son-los-nuevos-ministros-de-lugo-72014 |title=¿Quiénes son los nuevos ministros de Lugo? |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=17 June 2011 |website=Paraguay.com |language=es}}
• Minister of Agriculture and Livestock: Cándido Vera Bejarano (PLRA) and Enzo Cardozo{{cite news |url=http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2009/04/20/actualidad/1240178413_850215.html |title=Lugo remodela el Gobierno tras un año de mandato |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=20 April 2009 |newspaper=El País |language=es}}
• Minister of Industry and Commerce: Martín Heisecke (PLRA)
• Minister of Justice and Labor: Blas Llano (PLRA) and Humberto Blasco
• Minister of Public Works and Communications: Efraín Alegre (PLRA) and Cecilio Pérez Bordón
• Minister of Public Health and Social Welfare: Esperanza Martínez (Frente Guasú)
• Minister of Education and Culture: Horacio Galeano Perrone (ANR), Luis Riart (PLRA) and Víctor Ríos{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.com.py/nacionales/victor-rios-reemplazara-a-riart-en-educacion-314039.html |title=Víctor Ríos reemplazará a Riart en Educación |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=30 September 2011 |website=Diario ABC Color |language=es}}
• Minister of Women: Gloria Godoy de Rubin{{cite web |url=http://www.ultimahora.com/gloria-rubin-y-lilian-soto-sesuman-al-gabinete-lugo-n138855.html |title=Gloria Rubín y Lilian Soto se suman al gabinete de Lugo |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=27 June 2008 |website=Diario Última Hora |language=es}}
• General Secretary of the Presidency: Miguel Ángel López Perito {{cite web |url=http://www.aquieneselegimos.org.py/instituciones-autoridad.php?autoridad=44 |title=Sobre Miguel Ángel Ignacio López Perito |access-date=1 May 2017 |date= |website=A Quiénes Elegimos |language=es}}
• Secretary of Public Function: Lilian Soto (Kuña Pyrenda) and José Tomás Sánchez {{cite web |url=http://www.ultimahora.com/lilian-soto-oficializa-renuncia-la-secretaria-la-funcion-publica-n508029.html |title=Lilian Soto oficializa renuncia a la Secretaría de la Función Pública |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=2 March 2012 |website=Diario Última Hora |language=es |archive-date=23 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123002124/https://www.ultimahora.com/lilian-soto-oficializa-renuncia-la-secretaria-la-funcion-publica-n508029.html |url-status=dead }}
• Secretary of Technical Planification: Carlos Sánchez{{cite web |url=http://m.ultimahora.com/carlos-vidal-rios-sera-titular-aduanas-y-cesar-aquino-ira-la-senad-n145466.html |title=Carlos Vidal Ríos será titular de Aduanas y César Aquino irá a la SENAD |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=14 August 2008 |website=Diario Última Hora |language=es}} y Bernardo Esquivel Vasken{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.com.py/nacionales/nombran-a-secretario-interino-de-planificacion-21940.html |title=Nombran a secretario interino de Planificación |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=18 September 2009 |website=Diario ABC Color |language=es}}
• Secretary of the Environment: José Luis Casaccia (ANR)
• Secretary of Social Action: Paulino Cáceres (Tekojoja){{cite web |url=http://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/mundo/paraguay/politica/fernando-lugo-despejo-las-dudas-sobre-su-gabinete/2008-06-13/105318.html |title=Fernando Lugo despejó las dudas sobre su gabinete |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=13 June 2008 |website=Cooperativa |language=es}}
• Secretary of Culture: Ticio Escobar{{cite web |url=http://www.ultimahora.com/ticio-escobar-ocupara-la-secretaria-cultura-n131036.html |title=Ticio Escobar ocupará la Secretaría de Cultura |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=2 July 2008 |website=Diario Última Hora |language=es}}
• Secretary of National Emergency: Camilo Soares (P-MAS){{cite news |url=http://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/politica/camilo-soares-sera-titular-de-emergencia-nacional-1080758.html |title=Camilo Soares será titular de Emergencia Nacional |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=2 July 2008 |website=Diario ABC Color |language=es}} and Gladys Mercedes Cardozo Zacarías{{cite web |url=http://www.paraguay.com/nacionales/lugo-concede-permiso-a-camilo-sin-goce-de-sueldo-27501 |title=Lugo concede permiso a Camilo, sin goce de sueldo |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=27 May 2010 |website=Paraguay.com |language=es}}
• Secretary of Childhood and Adolescence: Liz Torres
• Anti-drugs National Secretary: César Damián Aquino
• Director of the National Indigenous Institute: Margarita Mbywangi (Tekojoja){{cite web |url=http://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/politica/indi-sera-administrado-por-los-indigenas-anuncian-1087811.html |title=INDI será administrado por los indígenas, anuncian |access-date=1 May 2017 |date=27 July 2008 |website=Diario ABC Color |language=es}}

{{Main|Impeachment of Fernando Lugo}}

On 15 June 2012, seventeen people were killed in a clash between landless farmers and the police who were trying to evict them; some sources consider that all this was taken as a pretext to expel Lugo.{{cite web|url=http://www.brecha.com.uy/inicio/item/10537-el-golpe-anunciado |title=The announced coup |date=22 June 2012 |publisher=Brecha (Montevideo) |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630070707/http://www.brecha.com.uy/inicio/item/10537-el-golpe-anunciado |archive-date=30 June 2012 }} The Chamber of Deputies cited this event as well as insecurity, nepotism and a controversial land purchase to vote 76 to 1 to impeach Lugo on 21 June 2012.[http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/21/world/americas/paraguay-president/index.html "Paraguay president faces impeachment after deadly clash"], Mariano Castillo, CNN, 21 June 2012. The Senate took up the case the next day.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18535552 "Paraguay's President Fernando Lugo faces impeachment"], BBC, 21 June 2012. The impeachment was attended by a delegation of Foreign Affairs ministers from the other nations of the Union of South American Nations.{{cite web |url=http://en.mercopress.com/2012/06/21/unasur-delegation-travels-to-paraguay-to-ensure-democratic-system-integrity|title=Unasur delegation travels to Paraguay to ensure 'democratic system integrity'|date=21 June 2012|publisher=Mercopress|access-date=22 June 2012}} The vote ended with 39 votes for Lugo's removal and four for his continuity, which ended his mandate and turned Federico Franco into the new president of Paraguay.{{cite web |url=http://en.mercopress.com/2012/06/22/institutional-coup-removes-paraguayan-president-lugo-from-office|title='Institutional coup' removes Paraguayan president Lugo from office|date=22 June 2012|publisher=Merco Press|access-date=22 June 2012}} Lugo announced that he would denounce the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, stating that the time to prepare a legal defence, just two hours, may be unconstitutional.{{cite web|url=http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1484248-lugo-se-juega-su-mandato-en-un-sorpresivo-y-veloz-juicio-politico|title=Paraguay: el Congreso destituyó al presidente Lugo|trans-title=Paraguay: the Congress deposed president Lugo|language=es|date=22 June 2012|work=La Nación|access-date=22 June 2012|archive-date=25 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625062446/http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1484248-lugo-se-juega-su-mandato-en-un-sorpresivo-y-veloz-juicio-politico|url-status=dead}} The removal of Lugo was followed by demonstrations by his supporters.

The presidents of Paraguay's neighbouring countries rejected Lugo's removal from office, and compared it to a coup d'état. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff proposed suspending Paraguay's membership in Mercosur and the Union of South American Nations. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic announced that they would not recognize Franco as president.{{cite web|url=http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1484357-unasur-y-mercosur-tomaria-medidas-severas-ante-la-remocion-de-lugo|title=Argentina 'no convalidará el golpe en Paraguay' mientras que Brasil sugirió que quedaría fuera de la Unasur y el Mercosur|trans-title=Argentina 'will not support the coup in Paraguay' and Brazil suggested that it would be left out of Unasur and Mercosur|language=es|date=22 June 2012|work=La Nación|access-date=22 June 2012|archive-date=26 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626230154/http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1484357-unasur-y-mercosur-tomaria-medidas-severas-ante-la-remocion-de-lugo|url-status=dead}} Condemnation also came from more conservative governments in the region, such as Colombia and Chile. Lugo's removal has drawn comparisons to the ouster of Honduras' Manuel Zelaya in 2009; like the ouster of Lugo it was defended as legal and constitutional by its supporters while being denounced as a coup across the Latin American political spectrum.{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/paraguay-likely-to-return-long-dominant-conservative-party-after-brush-with-leftist-bishop/|title=Paraguay likely to return long-dominant conservative party after brush with leftist bishop|agency=Associated Press|date=20 April 2013}}

Lugo himself accepted his ouster, saying that any legal and realistic chance of reinstating him ended when the Supreme Court of Paraguay declared his impeachment and confirmed his removal, and the electoral court recognized Franco as the new president. However, he denounced it as "a congressional coup."Reuters, 26 June 2012, [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-paraguay-lugo-idUSBRE85P1BQ20120626 Paraguay's Lugo says only miracle can reinstate him]

He is considered in the polls as the best president in the contemporary history of Paraguay.{{cite web | url=https://www.eldiarioar.com/mundo/sociedad-paraguaya-declara-cansada-joven-presidente-desencantada-cien-anos-partido-colorado_1_9084244.html | title=La sociedad paraguaya se declara cansada de su joven presidente y desencantada de más de cien años de Partido Colorado en el poder | date=15 June 2022 }}

In the 2013 election to replace his interim presidential replacement Lugo ran as a senate candidate. He was elected as member of Paraguayan Senate representing left-wing coalition Frente Guasú.{{cite web|url=http://frenteguasu.org.py/el-fg-no-defraudara-la-confianza-del-pueblo-afirma-lugo |title=Frente Guasu |work=frenteguasu.org.py |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503223008/http://frenteguasu.org.py/el-fg-no-defraudara-la-confianza-del-pueblo-afirma-lugo |archive-date=3 May 2013}}

Lugo was awarded the Order of Brilliant Jade by Ma Ying-jeou, the President of the Republic of China in March 2011.{{cite news |title=President Ma eyes closer ties with Paraguay |url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=2&post=1711 |access-date=23 April 2020 |work=Taiwan Today |date=15 March 2011}}

As Lugo was unmarried during his presidency, he designated his elder sister, Mercedes Lugo, as First Lady of Paraguay.{{cite web|url=https://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/internacionales/13746-lugo-nombra-primera-dama-su-hermana/|title=Lugo nombra "primera dama" a su hermana|work=El Nuevo Diario|access-date=4 January 2018}}

In August 2010, Lugo was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He continued his duties as president of Paraguay while undergoing treatment.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10900677|title=BBC News: Paraguay President Fernando Lugo diagnosed with cancer|date=7 August 2010}}

He also studied at Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.{{cite news |last1=Cano |first1=Manuela |title=El expresidente paraguayo Fernando Lugo, en coma inducido luego de sufrir un ACV |trans-title=Former Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo in a coma after suffering a stroke|url=https://www.france24.com/es/am%C3%A9rica-latina/20220810-el-expresidente-paraguayo-fernando-lugo-en-coma-inducido-luego-de-sufrir-un-acv |work=FRANCE 24 |date=11 August 2022|language=es}}

Lugo fathered several children out of wedlock{{cite news|title=Paraguay prez sex scandal widens|url=http://www.upi.com/Paraguay-prez-sex-scandal-widens/40201240461503/|access-date=2 April 2017|work=United Press International|date=23 April 2009}} including one that was allegedly the result of sexual assault.{{cite news|title=Paraguay president accused of sex attack|url=https://www.smh.com.au//breaking-news-world/paraguay-president-accused-of-sex-attack-20090624-cvra.html|access-date=2 April 2017|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=24 June 2009}} These allegations from four mothers, who claimed that Lugo had fathered their children while under a vow of celibacy, emerged soon after his 2008 inauguration.{{Cite news|title=The never-ending war|date=22 December 2012|newspaper=The Economist|page=45}} One of the children was conceived with a 24-year-old woman who says they began a sexual relationship when she was sixteen (Paraguay's age of consent is 14{{cite web|url= http://www.glin.gov/view.action?searchDetails.queryType=ALL&newSubjectTerm=&searchDetails.subjectTerms=&searchDetails.queryString=C%C3%B3digo+Penal+de+Paraguay&searchDetails.showSummary=true&searchDetails.publicationJurisdiction=&__checkbox_searchDetails.showSummary=true&searchDetails.issuanceDateToday=01&searchDetails.publicationDateTo=&searchDetails.publicationDateToday=01&searchDetails.sortOrder=rank&searchDetails.issuanceDateFromday=01&searchDetails.issuanceDateFrom=&searchDetails.issuanceDateFromyear=&month=01&month=01&month=01&month=01&search=Buscar&searchDetails.andSubjectTerms=true&searchDetails.publicationDateFromday=01&searchDetails.publicationDateFrom=&request_locale=es&searchDetails.publicationLanguage=&fieldName=&searchDetails.publicationDateToyear=&searchDetails.publicationJurisdictionExclude=false&searchDetails.includeAllFields=true&popupSearch=false&searchDetails.issuanceDateToyear=&searchDetails.summaryLanguage=%27%27&searchDetails.searchAll=true&searchDetails.publicationDateFromyear=&searchDetails.issuanceDateTo=&searchDetails.activeDrills=&searchDetails.hitsPerPage=10&glinID=209226&summaryLang=es&fromSearch=true |title=GLIN.gov – Changes introduced by Law 3440/2008 |language=es}} (click on PDF file in "texto completo")) and while he was a bishop.{{cite news|title=Paraguayan president admits he fathered child while he was a Catholic bishop|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/14/paraguay-fernando-lugo-catholic-bishop|access-date=2 April 2017|work=The Guardian|date=14 April 2009}}{{cite news|last1=Dorris|first1=Barbara|title=Ex-bishop admits fathering child; Sex abuse victims respond|url=http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_statements/2009_statements/041309_ex_bishop_admits_fathering_child_sex_abuse_victims_respond.htm|access-date=2 April 2017|agency=The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests|date=13 April 2009}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=

{{cite news

| title =Tobacco magnate wins Paraguay election

| publisher =Al Jazeera

| date =22 April 2013

| url =http://www.aljazeera.com/video/americas/2013/04/201342252658443227.html

| access-date = 24 April 2013}}

}}

{{Commons}}

• [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/blume.html Fernando Lugo profile at CatholicHierarchy website]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/world/americas/27paraguay.html 27 February 2007 New York Times article on Lugo's possible candidacy]
• [http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2686.cfm 22 February 2007 article on Lugo from Worldpress.org]
• [http://jimjay.blogspot.com/2006/12/church-right-wing-shocker.html 30 December 2006 Daily (Maybe) blog on background to Lugo's presidential bid]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080421174307/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080421/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/paraguay_election Lugo Wins Election at AP]
• [http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0418/p04s05-woam.html 18 April 2008 article on Lugo and Paraguay elections from The Christian Science Monitor]
• [http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=691&catID=1 "Rise of the Red Bishop"], The Guardian Weekly, 14 August 2008
• [http://www.cidob.org/biografias_lideres_politicos/america_del_sur/paraguay/fernando_lugo_mendez Biography by CIDOB]

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{{s-bef|before=Bharrat Jagdeo}}

{{s-ttl|title=President pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations|years=2011–2012}}

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{{Fernando Lugo cabinet}}

{{Paraguay Presidents}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lugo, Fernando}}

Category:1951 births

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