+353 (1) 685 6929 A paternity suit has been filed against Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, which alleges that the former Roman Catholic Bishop fathered a son only 5 months after he left the priesthood for politics.
Almost immediately, however, the mother of the child asked her lawyers to withdraw it, leading officials close to the president to remark that the claim “must be false,” and part of a smear campaign. Speaking on Radio 1, Emilio Camacho, legal advisor to the president, said, “There must have been someone who wanted to harm the image of the president.”
Lawyer Claudio Kostinochok filed the suit on behalf of mother Viviana Rosali Carrillo Canete, who had claimed to have an affair with President Fernando Lugo. Explaining the reason for legal action, Kostinochok said, “We turned to the courts after conversations between my client and the president failed to reach an amicable settlement on recognizing paternity.”
The Associated Press was informed of the suit by court secretary Jorge Madrazzo who said that a judge would have until next Wednesday to accept or reject it.
Shortly after, Carrillo was quoted as saying that she “categorically” denied approving the lawsuit. Refusing to comment further for privacy reasons, she has been contradicted by her lawyers, who claim that she authorized the filing with her signature, and has either been made a better offer, or been put off by all the media attention surrounding the affair. “Walter Acosta, one of the lawyers filing the suit said simply, “we wanted Lugo to take charge of the boy’s care,” and added that immediately after the Easter holidays, the complaint would be withdrawn.
A spokesman for Lugo commented on the timing of lawsuit stating, “It must be false. I find it interesting that the suit was filed right in the middle of Holy Week, when everything is calm.”
Lugo, 57, had resigned as bishop of San Pedro in 2004. Two years later he announced that he was renouncing the status of bishop itself to run for president.
During the campaign for the April 2008 election, The Vatican had insisted that Lugo would always be a bishop under church law, but days before his Lugo’s inauguration, Pope Benedict XVI gave him unprecedented permission to resign.
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April 2009