[NYTr] Paraguay: Diocese Rejects Charges Against ex-Bishop Pres'l Candidate
 
Date: Sat, 7 Jul 2007 20:54:18 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
[Fernando Lugo, a Roman Catholic ex-Bishop has resigned and is running
for President with the backing of a leftist coalition. Only the Miami
Herald says that the Vatican has refused to accept his resignation, but
apparently he's not serving as a Bishop any longer. A recent COHA
report says that the Vatican "has not yet formally accepted"
Lugo's resignation. See: "Latin America's Pink Tide: Is Paraguay
Next?" (Jun 29, 2997):
http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20070625/064928.html
-NY Transfer]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Paraguay: Diocese Rejects Accusations against Pres'l Candidate
ex-Bishop Fernando Lugo

Asuncion, Jul 7 (Prensa Latina) The Paraguayan Diocese on Saturday
rejected governmental accusations against former bishop Fernando Lugo,
and what it called signs of electoral publicity causing unease among
the population.

"Denunciations against Lugo took us by surprise," the president of the
Paraguayan Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Ignacio Gogorza stated, and
highlighted the presidential hopeful is certainly released from his
Episcopal ministry.

Gorgona slammed accusations by the interior ministry that the former
bishop is suspected accomplice of kidnappers while he was serving at
the San Pedro Diocese.

He stressed bishops cannot accept such allegations made amid the
delicate political context in Paraguay.

"Such electioneering campaign causes discomfort. We do not know the
extent of this fight for power," Gorgona noted.

ef dig tpa PL-17

                              ***

The Miami Herald LatAm/Carib Newsbriefs - Jul 3, 2007
http://www.miamiherald.com/579/story/158703.html

PARAGUAY

EDUCATION MINISTER QUITS, SEEKS PRESIDENCY

ASUNCION -- Paraguay's education minister, Blanca Ovelar, resigned
Monday to campaign for the ruling Colorado party's nomination for the
April 2008 presidential election.

Backed by President Nicanor Duarte, Ovelar is expected to face several
intraparty rivals when the party that has ruled Paraguay for six
decades holds its primary Dec. 16. Chief among them is Vice President
LuC-s Castiglioni, an outspoken critic of the president.

Ovelar would become Paraguay's first female president if elected April
20, 2008. Duarte is barred constitutionally from a second consecutive
term.

Opposition hopefuls for the race include Fernando Lugo, a Catholic
bishop whose resignation in December was refused by Rome.

Church officials have opposed Lugo's candidacy, arguing that he cannot
quit the priesthood and the Vatican bars priests from running for
office.

Lugo commands an opposition coalition of left-leaning labor, social and
peasant groups in a country where many have grown weary of
uninterrupted Colorado party domination of politics.

                             ***

MercoPress (Uruguay) - Jun 19, 2007
http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=10761&formato=HTML

 Paraguay: more support for former bishop presidential hopeful

Paraguaybs leading presidential pre-candidate and former bishop
Fernando Lugo received this week the formal support from one of the
countrybs main opposition parties the Authentic Liberal Radicals, PLRA.
PLRA decided to support Mr. Lugo during a national assembly of
delegates over the weekend. Paraguaybs presidential election is
scheduled for April 2008.

PLRA chairman Deputy Blas Llano confirmed that in the convention,
b1.137 delegates from all over the country voted for Lugo and also
awarded me a mandate to request that a liberal accompanies the
presidential ticket for the Concertacion Nacional alliance, to which we
belongb.

Concertacion Nacional is a political project following on the Chilean
experience, which includes all major opposition parties with
parliamentary representation, trade unions, social and peasant
organizations with the purpose of challenging the hegemonic Partido
Colorado that has dominated Paraguayan politics for decades.

The former cleric is currently in United States holding meetings with
Paraguayan immigrants who said they are willing to donate funds for the
coming presidential primaries and national election.

Lugo, 58, was born in one of the poorest rural areas of Paraguay and
last December resigned as bishop and to his thirty years of clergyman
following a popular request, supported with100.000 signatures, asking
him for ba change alternativeb in Paraguay.

       
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