MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Easter present for Paraguayan president: a paternity suit

Viviana’s claim would make an interesting Easter gossip

Paraguay’s Christina Democrat party reiterated “full confidence” in President Fernando Lugo who faces a paternity suit alleging that a son was born to the former Roman Catholic bishop five months after he abandoned the church for politics.

President Lugo's spokesman said the claim “must be false,” while another official close to the president called the allegation a smear campaign.

“There must have been someone who wanted to harm the image of the president,” Lugo legal adviser Emilio Camacho told Radio 1 in Asunción.

In a release the Christian Democratic Party said in a release “it renews confidence in the person of the president of the Republic and in the institutional leadership of his constitutional mandate to continue and deepen the changes implemented in the structure of the Paraguayan state following his impressive victory of 20 April, 2008”.

The release repudiates the actions of political and social groups with sectarian interests that are intent in a smear campaign with “vile and despicable” arguments to erode the image of President Lugo.

The suit was filed in the southern city of Encarnacion on behalf of Viviana Rosalia Carrillo Canete, who claimed to have had a relationship with Lugo, lawyer Claudio Kostinochok told reporters in Asunción.

“We turned to the courts after conversations between my client and the president failed to reach an amicable settlement on recognizing paternity,” Kostinochok said.

But MS Carrillo later was quoted by newspaper ABC Color as saying she “categorically” denied approving the lawsuit. She declined to speak further, citing privacy concerns for the child.

Her account was different from that of her lawyers — who said she signed documents authorizing the filing, and may either have negotiated a deal separately or gotten scared after the story blew up in the news media.

“We wanted Lugo to take charge of the boy's care,” said attorney Walter Acosta, one of the filers of the suit. He added that without the woman's support, lawyers would withdraw the complaint on Monday when courts reopen after the Easter holidays.

“It must be false,” Lugo spokesman Augusto Dos Santos told Catholic radio station Caritas. “I find it interesting that the suit was filed right in the middle of Holy Week, when everything is calm.”

Lugo, 57, resigned as bishop of San Pedro in 2004. In December 2006, he announced that he was renouncing the status of bishop itself to run for president.

According to Kostinochok, the boy was born about five months later. “This May 4 their son will turn 2 years old” he told reporters. He added the boy is named Guillermo Armindo in honour of Lugo's grandfather.

Asuncion press reports also revealed that Edith Lombardo, the house where her godchild Viviana Carrillo lives, has a long police record involving swindling and rebound checks.

In the paternity suit Ms Lombardo testifies that then Bishop Lugo would some times stay to sleep at her home •where he met Viviana, 26, and begun seducing her at the tender age of 16”.