Fernando Lugo

Fernando Lugo (born May 30, 1951, San Pedro del Paraná, Paraguay) is a former Roman Catholic bishop who became president of Paraguay (2008–12). His inauguration ended the conservative Colorado Party’s 62-year hold on power. Lugo was the nephew of Epifanio Méndez Fleitas, a Colorado Party leader who was forced into exile in 1956, during Gen. Alfredo Stroessner’s 35-year dictatorship (1954–89). After briefly working as a primary-school teacher, in 1970 Lugo began a novitiate with the...