Paraguay’s ex-bishop president agrees to take DNA test in lawsuit over third paternity claim

Lugo accepts DNA test for third paternity claim

ASUNCION, Paraguay — President Fernando Lugo has agreed to take a DNA test following a judicial request presented by a third woman who claims he fathered her child, the leader’s lawyer said Wednesday.

In October, Hortensia Damiana Moran, 40, filed a formal request asking a judge to order Lugo to take a paternity test to establish whether he fathered her 2-year-old, Juan Pablo.

Moran, a religious activist, says she had a sexual relationship with the 58-year-old former Roman Catholic bishop in 2006 during the time that they were both working on his preparations for the 2008 presidential election campaign. Lugo resigned as a priest in 2004 to pursue politics.

“We have given up on our judicial defense actions and we are available for the judge to set a date and place for taking the president’s sample,” Lugo’s lawyer, Marcos Farina, said during a radio interview.

He said the decision to undergo the test was based on the “public’s anxiety to clarify this issue.”

“If the first test comes positive and matches the result of the second test, the president will have no inconvenience in adjusting to the law and recognizing the child,” Farina said.

Last April, Lugo acknowledged he was the father of the 2-year-old son of Viviana Carrillo, 26, who also filed a legal case.

Farina said the case of 26-year-old Benigna Leguizamon, the second woman to pursue a lawsuit claiming Lugo fathered her child, remains before a court that has not ruled yet whether Lugo will be tested in a laboratory or the presidential residence.

Leguizamon says her son, Lucas Fernando, 7, was conceived during an affair when Lugo was still bishop of San Pedro. Leguizamon worked as a cleaning woman in the diocese building.

Lugo made no comments about the paternity claims during a news conference Wednesday.