AFP
Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo has been ordered to take a DNA test to determine whether he is the father of a two-year-old boy as the child’s mother claims, legal officials said on Wednesday.
The order, issued by a family court judge on Tuesday as Lugo travelled to a Brazilian hospital to have a cancerous tumour examined, compounded problems the president – a former Catholic bishop – faces after a string of women alleged he fathered their children.
Lugo, 59, admitted last year to having a child, now aged three, with a 26-year-old woman after she sued.
Two other paternity lawsuits have been lodged against him, including by the woman in Tuesday’s judgement, Hortensia Damiana Moran, who said Lugo fathered her son Juan Pablo.
“I am happy because at last we’re going to put an end to this drawn-out and stressful process,” Moran told reporters.
The judge, Ana Ovelar, gave Lugo until August 24 to carry out the DNA test.
If the test is not done, the boy will be named Lugo’s son by a court judgement and bear Lugo’s last name.
The Paraguayan leader flew to Sao Paulo in Brazil on Wednesday for examination of a malignant cancer.
Paraguayan officials say the cancer is “potentially curable,” and Lugo will likely undergo chemotherapy.
Moran said of Lugo’s illness: “Hearing the news causes me much pain. I hope he gets better. As a Christian, I know that sooner or later we pay for the evil we do. The time has come for him to redeem himself.”