ASUNCION (Reuters) – Paraguay’s leftist president accused political rivals yestersday of trying to destabilize his government by spreading rumours that he fathered yet another child when he was a Roman Catholic cleric.
Fernando Lugo, a former bishop who left the church three years ago to run for president, has already been weakened by three women’s claims that he is the father of their children. This week he faced fresh criticism from rightist opponents after his niece said he also had a 22-year-old daughter.
“This is part of a big set-up campaign that has no basis and, precisely because of that, merits no comment from the president,” Lugo told a news conference, accusing “authoritarian coupmongers” of trying to fuel confrontation.
Earlier this month, Lugo sacked the heads of the armed forces after warning that some officers might be siding with his opponents, although he denied any coup threat.
Paraguay, one of South America’s poorest countries, has been rocked by sporadic bouts of political unrest and several coup attempts since democracy was restored in 1989 after a 35-year dictatorship led by General Alfredo Stroessner.
Lugo, known as the “bishop of the poor” before he quit the church, said the woman now alleged to be his daughter was a member of a family he had known since 1977. He has only admitted fathering a two-year-old boy, conceived before he left the church.
Lawmakers from the conservative Colorado Party, which ruled the Catholic country for six decades before Lugo’s election last year, have seized on the paternity scandals, branding the president dishonest and a national embarrassment.
Lugo’s governing coalition has struggled to push through a reformist agenda and faces stiff opposition from Colorado Party lawmakers, some of whom have called for his impeachment.
They accuse Lugo of failing to curb rising crime and are demanding a probe into accusations of improper land sales allegedly involving a presidential aide.
About 10,000 leftist protesters marched in Asuncion yesterday to call on Congress to increase anti-poverty funding in the biggest pro-government demonstration since Lugo took office 15 months ago.
The opposition-controlled Senate approved cuts to welfare spending when it voted through the 2010 budget bill.
