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  Factbox - Paraguay's Bishop-Turned-President Fernando Lugo

Reuters
April 13, 2009

http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE53C4E420090413

(Reuters) - Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo admitted on Monday he fathered a child in a relationship he had when he was still a Roman Catholic bishop. Here are some facts about the 57-year-old leftist leader.

* Lugo was known as the "bishop of the poor" after serving 10 years as bishop in Paraguay's poorest province, where he met the woman who he now admits he fathered a child with.

* His child, a boy, will be 2 years old in May.

* Lugo won a special dispensation from the Vatican to return to lay status after he was elected president in April last year. He took office in August. The Catholic Church frowns on priests being involved in political activity.

* Lugo speaks the Guarani Indian language as well as Spanish and has stuck to a simple dress style as president, although he has stopped wearing sandals as he did on the campaign trail.

* Lugo is considered the most leftist leader Paraguay has had for many decades and joins a new generation of leftists that has come to power across much of Latin America in recent years, including a former soldier, two women, a former labour leader and a former coca-leaf farmer.

 
 

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