Paraguay president faces a second paternity claim

Paraguay’s president was hit with another paternity claim Monday, just a week after the former Roman Catholic bishop acknowledged fathering a child while still subject to his vows of chastity.

Fernando Lugo, 57, neither confirmed nor denied being the father of the 6-year-old boy, but read a brief statement promising to “act always in line with the truth and subject myself to all the requirements presented by the justice system.” Last week he had acknowledged being the father of a 2-year-old boy with a former parishioner.

Lugo appealed for privacy, referring all questions about paternity claims to his lawyer.

Two of Lugo’s Cabinet ministers started judicial proceedings against their boss on behalf of the 6-year-old boy’s mother, and vowed to order DNA tests if Lugo doesn’t recognize paternity.

Women’s Minister Glorida Rubin said Lugo had later agreed to submit to DNA tests and talk with the woman to try to reach an understanding.

When Lugo admitted last week that he had fathered a child and said he would “assume all responsibilities” for the 2-year-old, analysts predicted that his forthright response would defuse the potential scandal, despite the feeling of at least one bishop that it was a “slap in the face” of the Catholic Church.

But a second paternity claim is sure to give his opponents more ammunition.

Lugo said his attorney Marcos Farina would handle the new claim as well. He said last week that he was acting with a sense of “absolute honesty and a sense of duty and transparency” to acknowledge his relationship with Viviana Carrillo,” the 2-year-old’s mother.

Benigna Leguizamon, an impoverished soap-seller, said Lugo’s admission inspired her to go public about her 6-year-old.

“I decided to make this claim through the media before going to the courts after seeing that last week Viviana Carrillo got President Lugo to recognize their child,” she said.

Both women said they were just teenagers when they first met Lugo.