Paternity Tests for Paraguay President Fernando Lugo

Lugo was formerly a Roman Catholic Bishop and he has recently admitted to fathering a child who is now 2-years-old to one woman whilst he was still supposed to be chaste. Now, a second woman has come forward and she wants Lugo and her child to take paternity tests in order to prove that her son is also the son of the country’s President.

Lugo, 57, has not yet confirmed or denied being the father of the 6-year-old but he has pledged to be entirely honest and to hold himself accountable to the justice system. Appealing for privacy he deferred questions from the press about the claims to his lawyers. It was some of his cabinet ministers that started legal proceedings against Lugo in response to the latest woman’s claims.

Paternity Tests Enforced

They have said that if Lugo denies fathering her son, they will enforce legally required DNA tests on the President anyway. Womens’ Minister, Gloria Rubin, had talks with Lugo and he agreed to take part in paternal testing to determine whether his DNA matches that of the woman’s 6-year-old son. She said that on receipt of results he would speak with the woman in order to bring matters to a positive conclusion.

A week before the second woman came forward, the first woman claimed that Lugo fathered her two-year-old son and had even requested that she name the child after his grandfather, which she did. The second woman, Benigna Leguizamon, said that he asked her too; to give her child his grandfather’s name of Armindo but she declined favouring the name Lucas instead.

Paternity Tests and Catholic Controversy

Both of the women say they were teenagers when they met the President in his role as a Bishop. The second woman to come forward, Leguizamon was just 17 years old when she met Lugo (who had taken a vow of chastity) and she already had a baby daughter from a different father. She worked in the bishopric and it was there her relationship with Lugo began.

Speaking to the Paraguay press about her relationship with the President she said that she first approached Monsignor Fernando Lugo for guidance as her first child’s father (who was an anaesthetist in San Pedro Hospital) would not give her any child support.

She described Lugo as giving her support at a time of great need but also exploiting her neediness in order to have a sexual relationship with her. She also explained that he paid the rent for a flat where she stayed and when it came time for her to give birth, a midwife came to the apartment to deliver her baby.

She was allegedly offered money by a political party in order to publicise her story during the president’s campaign and she declined at the time; only feeling safe to discuss her history once another woman had first set precedent by coming forward about Lugo’s secrets. The catholic community in Paraguay has been shaken by Lugo’s admissions regarding the first woman’s child and Leguizamon’s claims are even more damaging to his reputation.