Fernando Armino Lugo Méndez was born on May 30, 1951 in the town of San Pedro del Paraná, in the department of Itapúa, in Paraguay. He is a well-known sociologist and politician, as well as a bishop, although in a lay state.
Fernando was born into a very humble family. His parents were Guillermo Hugo and Maximina Méndez. Many of his family members were exiled or imprisoned for political activities.
He completed his basic studies in a religious school in the city of Encarnación, to which the family had moved. His father wanted him to study law, but Fernando, when he turned 18, preferred to be a teacher, and began to teach in a rural school. There his religious vocation was awakened, and at the age of 19 he entered a Seminary.
In 1977 he graduated in Religious Sciences at the Catholic University of Our Lady of the Assumption, and he was ordained a priest that same year. His first destination is Ecuador, where he serves as a missionary for 5 years and begins to interest in Liberation Theology.
In 1982 he returned to Paraguay, but after a year he was expelled from the country by the regime. He went to Rome and, at the Gregorian University, he studied Sociology, specializing in Social Doctrine of the Church.
In 1987 he returned to his country, and in the year is consecrated bishop and assigned to the parish of San Pedro, located in one of the poorest areas of Paraguay. It was a time of strong social conflict, and Lugo always gave his support to the landless peasants.
Become a benchmark of the progressive Church, founds the Base Communities of Paraguay.
With the desire in part to fulfill his father’s will, he enrolled in 2002 at the university to study law, but left it in the third year, since his political activities were increasing and they did not leave him time for more.
In 2006 he requested a dispensation from the Vatican to dedicate himself to politics, thus distancing himself from his religious condition. In this same year, he promoted the organization of Citizen Resistance, which includes unions and civil associations.
It begins to be known as the “bishop of the poor”, And in 2008 he received a dispensation from the Pope so that he could stand as a candidate for the Presidency of the Government and hold that position.
Lugo is the victim of a large number of death threats by the Colorado Party and other retractors, as well as several attempts to smear him, but in April 2008 he won the presidential elections.
He becomes the first democratically elected president of Paraguay, and in the second from the left, after Rafael Franco, who presided over the country in 1936 and 1937, since the Colorado Party had been in power for 61 years.
On August 15, 2008, he was appointed President of Paraguay, and begins to achieve great achievements especially in social or educational matters.
After several events, in which Lugo is always consistent with his ideology, the Chamber of Deputies approves carrying out a political trial against Fernando Lugo, and after a very summary process, thatEu is described by most governments as a breakdown of the democratic system and a coup, Lugo is dismissed.