This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2011)

Fernando Lugo
President of Paraguay
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 August 2008
Vice President	Federico Franco
Preceded by	Nicanor Duarte
President pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 October 2011
Preceded by	Bharrat Jagdeo
Personal details
Born	(1951-05-30) 30 May 1951 (age 61) San Solano, Paraguay
Nationality	Paraguayan
Political party	Patriotic Alliance for Change
Children	Guillermo Armindo Lugo Carrillo
Alma mater	Catholic University of Our Lady of Asuncion
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature
Website	Official website

Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez (Spanish pronunciation: [ferˈnando arˈmindo ˈluɣo ˈmendeθ]; born 30 May 1951) is the President of Paraguay, and a former Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of San Pedro.

Early life[link]

Lugo's family was not particularly religious; by his own account, he never saw his father set foot in a church.^{[citation needed]} However, the influences during his upbringing were distinctly political. His maternal uncle, Epifanio Méndes Fleitas, was a Colorado Party dissident and was persecuted and exiled by General Stroessner's regime. Lugo's father was imprisoned twenty times, and some of his elder siblings were sent into exile. He received his basic education at a religious school in Encarnación, all the while he worked selling snacks on the streets.^{[citation needed]}

Aged 17 or 18, against his father's wishes for him to become a lawyer, Lugo entered a normal school, and began teaching at a rural community. He was well accepted within this people, who were very religious, but they had no priest. He recalls that he was touched by that experience, discovering his vocation to the Roman Catholic priesthood, and he decided to enter a seminary operated by the Society of the Divine Word at age 19. Lugo was ordained a priest on 15 August 1977. That year he was sent to Ecuador, where he served as a missionary for five years. In Ecuador he had the opportunity to learn about the controversial liberation theology, a movement later criticized in large measure by the Vatican.

Lugo returned to Paraguay in 1982, and after a year, the regime's police asked Church authorities that he be expelled from the country. The Church complied and sent him to Rome for further academic studies. Lugo returned to Paraguay in 1987, two years before the Stroessner dictatorship's ultimate fall. Lugo was ordained a bishop on 17 April 1994, and received charge of the nation's poorest diocese, in the San Pedro department.^[1]

Lugo resigned as ordinary of the Diocese of San Pedro on 11 January 2005. He had requested laicization in order to run for office. However, the Holy See refused the request on the grounds that bishops could not undergo laicization, and also denied him the requested canonical permission to run for civil elected office.^[2] Following his election as President, the Church imposed laicization for his having been elected to political office without permission.^[3]

Personal life[link]

As Lugo is unmarried, he announced the designation of his elder sister, Mercedes Lugo, as First Lady of Paraguay.

2009 Paternity controversy[link]

On 13 April 2009, Lugo admitted he is the father of a child conceived with Viviana Carrillo, age 26, while he was still a Roman Catholic bishop. The revelation came five days after lawyers for Carrillo announced they were filing a paternity suit against the President. Ms. Carrillo's lawyers say the boy was born on 4 May 2007. Pope Benedict XVI did not relieve Lugo from his vows of chastity until 31 July 2008.^[4][5] A minor judicial investigation ensued as it was claimed that the woman was under 18 years old when the relationship started, and the allegations were not substantiated.

One week later, a second woman, Benigna Leguizamón, came forward in Paraguay alleging that Lugo fathered one of her children in 2002, while he was still serving as a Catholic bishop.^[6] However, Lugo did not acknowledge this child as in the first case. Leguizamón then filed a lawsuit against the President demanding a DNA test.^[7] Other Paraguayan bishops were reportedly informed of such allegations in 2004, but did not make them public at the time.^[8] A third woman, political activist Hortensia Morán, appeared a day after Leguizamón and also claimed President Lugo to be the father of her child, a 16-month-old boy named for Pope John Paul II.^[9] Initially she waited for Lugo's recognition of her child. As this did not happen, she decided after seven months to sue the President.^[10]

The BBC reported that DNA-testing has shown Moran's child is not Lugo's.^[11]

Health issues[link]

In August 2010, Lugo was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer. He continued his duties as president of Paraguay while undergoing treatment.^[12]

Presidential candidacy[link]

Lugo jumped to the national arena by backing peasants' claims for better land distribution. During 2006, wide-spectrum opinion polls published by Diario ABC Color newspaper showed him as a possible choice for the opposition's presidential candidacy. Known as "the bishop of the poor", Lugo was seen in the subsequent months as the most serious threat to the dominance of the Colorado Party on Paraguayan politics. Although he has said he finds the presidency of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela interesting, he has also made a point to distance himself from leftist leaders in Latin America, focusing more on social inequality in Paraguay. On 23 February 2007, a Prensa Latina article noted that the Paraguayan Interior Ministry offered Lugo protection because of the death threats he has received during the course of his political activities.^[14]

According to a poll released in February 2007, he was the leading contender in the April 2008 presidential election, with more than 37% of the voters' intention.^[15] On 29 October 2007, he registered himself into the tiny Christian Democratic Party of Paraguay in order to get his bureaucratic habilitation to run for office.^[16] That party integrated a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties and social movements, named Patriotic Alliance for Change. Federico Franco, from the centrist Authentic Radical Liberal Party, Paraguay's largest opposition party, was his running mate.^{[citation needed]}

On 16 November 2007, although then-Chairman of the National Republican Party (ANR, Partido Colorado), President Nicanor Duarte Frutos, announced that the Colorado Party declined to initiate proceedings to block Lugo's candidacy,^[17] there is a debate going on about its legality, because Article 235 of the Constitution forbids ministers of any religious denomination to hold elective office and Pope Benedict XVI rejected Lugo's resignation from the priesthood.^[18] In July 2008, however, the pope laicized Lugo which allowed him to become president within the framework of canon law.^[19]

President[link]

On 20 April 2008, Lugo won the election by a margin of 10 percentage points, although far short of a majority. The Colorado Party candidate, Blanca Ovelar, acknowledged that Lugo had an unassailable lead and conceded the race that same night at about 9 pm local time. Two hours later, President Duarte acknowledged that the Colorados had lost an election for the first time in 61 years. Lugo became Paraguay's second leftist president (the first being Rafael Franco, who served from 1936 to 1937), and the first to be freely elected. His swearing in marked the first time in Paraguay's history (the country gained independence in 1811) that a ruling party peacefully surrendered power to an elected member from the opposition.^{[citation needed]}

Lugo was sworn in as President on 15 August 2008, saying he would not accept the presidential salary because it "belongs to more humble people" and encouraged other politicians to refuse their salaries as well.^[20]

He initially named Alejandro Hamed as his foreign minister. During the campaign, Lugo had suggested that he would switch diplomatic relations from the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the People's Republic of China,^[21] thereby depriving the ROC of its last diplomatic ally in South America. However after the inauguration, which had been attended by President Ma Ying-jeou from Taiwan, Lugo stated that he had no plans to switch recognition.^[22]

On 18 August 2008, Lugo named Margarita Mbywangi, a member of the Aché indigenous ethnic group, as minister of indigenous affairs, the first indigenous person to hold such a position in Paraguay.^[23]

Although to date little progress has been made in tackling corruption and encouraging land reform (two of the main promises of Lugo's presidential campaign), a number of initiatives have been introduced to improve the lives of Paraguay's poor, such as investments in low-income housing,^[24] the introduction of free treatment in public hospitals,^[25] and the introduction of cash transfers for Paraguay's most impoverished citizens.^[26]

Blog[link]

Lugo began writing a blog on the web site of newspaper ABC Color in March 2007.^[27]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fernando Lugo

• Fernando Lugo profile at CatholicHierarchy website
• 27 February 2007 New York Times article on Lugo's possible candidacy
• 22 Feb. 2007 article on Lugo from Worldpress.org
• 30 December 2006 Daily (Maybe) blog on background to Lugo's presidential bid
• Lugo Wins Election at AP
• 18 April 2008 article on Lugo and Paraguay elections from The Christian Science Monitor
• "Rise of the Red Bishop" The Guardian Weekly, 14 August 2008

v t e Heads of state of Paraguay Yegros Rodríguez de Francia Yegros Rodríguez de Francia Ortiz Medina Roque Alonzo C.A. López F.S. López Rivarola Machaín Rivarola Jovellanos Gill Uriarte Bareiro Saguier Caballero Escobar J.G. González M. Morínigo Egusquiza Aceval Carvallo Escurra Gaona Báez Ferreira González Navero Gondra Jara Rojas Peña González Navero Schaerer M. Franco Montero Gondra Eusebio Ayala Eligio Ayala Riart Eligio Ayala Guggiari Eusebio Ayala R. Franco Paiva Estigarribia H. Moríñigo Frutos J.N. González Rolón Molas Chávez Romero Stroessner Rodríguez Wasmosy Cubas González Macchi Duarte Lugo Italics indicate acting, interim or provisional role.

Lugo
—  City  —
View from the Roman wall of Lugo and its Cathedral
Flag Coat of arms
Lugo
Coordinates: 43°01′N 7°33′W / 43.017°N 7.55°W / 43.017; -7.55Coordinates: 43°01′N 7°33′W / 43.017°N 7.55°W / 43.017; -7.55
Country	Spain
Region	Galicia
Province	Lugo
County	Lugo
Parishes	Adai, Bacurín, Bascuas, Bazar, Benade, Bocamaos, Bóveda, O Burgo, Calde, Camoira, Carballido, Coeo, Coeses, Cuíña, Esperante, Gondar, Labio, Lamas, Lugo, Mazoi, Meilán, Monte de Meda, Muxa, Ombreiro, Orbazai, O Outeiro das Camoiras, Pedreda, Pías, Piúgos, Poutomillos, Prógalo, Recimil, Ribas de Miño, Romeán, Rubiás, Saa, San Mamede dos Anxos
Government
• Type	Mayor-council
• Body	Concello de Lugo
• Mayor	José Clemente López Orozco (PSdeG)
Area
• Total	332 km2 (128 sq mi)
Elevation	465 m (1,526 ft)
Population (2011)INE
• Total	98,007
• Density	300/km2 (760/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (GMT +1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (GMT +2) (UTC)
Postcode	2700x
Area code(s)	+34-982
ISO 3166-2	ES-LU
Patron Saint	Saint Froilán
Website	http://www.lugo.es

Lugo (Galician pronunciation: [ˈluɣo]) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous community of Galicia. It is the capital of the province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 98,007 in 2011, which makes it the fourth most populated city in Galicia.

Lugo is the only city in the world to be surrounded by completely intact Roman walls, which reach a height of 10 to 15 metres along a 2117 m circuit ringed with 71 towers. The walk along the top is continuous round the circuit, and features ten gates. These 3rd century walls are protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The bridge over the Minho is essentially of Roman date, though many repairs over the centuries have effaced its Roman character.

Population[link]

The population of the city in 2010 was 97,635 inhabitants, growing constantly since the first census in 1842, while the rest of the province is losing population dramatically.

In 2010 there were 5,373 foreigners living in the city, representing a 5,5% of the total population. The main nationalities are Colombians (18%), Moroccans (12%) and Brazilians (11%).^[1]

By language, according to 2008 data, 16% of the population speak always in Galician, 20% speak always in Spanish and the rest use both interchangeably.^[2]

Geography[link]

The town lays on a hill surrounded by the rivers Minho, Rato and Chanca. The difference in altitude between downtown and the river banks is considerable, while in the center of the city's altitude of 465 meters above sea level, at the height of the Miño River Walk is the altitude of only 364 meters. The municipality of Lugo is the second largest in Galicia, with 329.78 km ² and 59 parishes. It should be emphasized that the outline of the city was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO on 7 November 2002, this being the most important recognition at international level regarding the conservation of landscapes and habitats of this Atlantic European region.

Climate[link]

Like most of Galicia Lugo has an humid oceanic climate, with dryer summers, on the boundary between Csb and Cfb in the Köppen climate classification. Due to its remoteness from the Atlantic, its annual precipitation of 1,084 millimetres (42.7 in) can be considered low compared with areas of the Rias Baixas and Santiago de Compostela. The highest temperature recorded in history, 39.6 °C (103.3 °F), occurred in August 1961 and the lowest temperature was −13.2 °C (8.2 °F) in February 1983. The city has an average of six days of snow per year, which is a contrast to coastal cities of Galicia which have not received snow in modern times.

Climate data for Lugo
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	10.1 (50.2)	11.7 (53.1)	14.0 (57.2)	14.8 (58.6)	17.8 (64.0)	20.8 (69.4)	23.6 (74.5)	24.1 (75.4)	22.3 (72.1)	17.7 (63.9)	13.3 (55.9)	10.8 (51.4)	16.8 (62.2)
Average low °C (°F)	1.5 (34.7)	2.2 (36.0)	2.7 (36.9)	4.4 (39.9)	6.8 (44.2)	9.5 (49.1)	11.9 (53.4)	11.8 (53.2)	10.0 (50.0)	7.2 (45.0)	4.3 (39.7)	3.0 (37.4)	6.3 (43.3)
Precipitation mm (inches)	122 (4.8)	108 (4.25)	86 (3.39)	94 (3.7)	93 (3.66)	52 (2.05)	34 (1.34)	34 (1.34)	77 (3.03)	115 (4.53)	122 (4.8)	146 (5.75)	1,084 (42.68)
% humidity	84	80	76	76	75	75	74	73	75	81	85	84	78
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm)	14	13	12	13	13	7	5	5	8	13	14	14	131
Mean monthly sunshine hours	93	113	155	150	186	210	248	217	180	124	90	93	1,859
Source: Climate & Temperature[3]

History[link]

Renaissance tower and apse of the Lugo Cathedral.

The city was probably founded by Celtic inhabitants of the region and dedicated to Lugos,^[4] a pan-Celtic God of light, oaths and arts. Later conquered by Paulus Fabius Maximus and called Lucus Augusti^[5] in 13 BC on the positioning of a Roman military camp,^[6] while the Roman Empire completed the conquest, in the North, of the Iberian Peninsula. Situated in what was the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis, it was the chief town of the tribe of the Capori. Though small it was the most important Roman town in what became Gallaecia during the Roman period, the seat of a conventus, one of three in Gallaecia, and later became one of the two capitals of Gallaecia, and gave its name to the Callaïci Lucenses. It was centrally situated in a large gold mining region, which during the Roman period was very active. The Conventus Lucensis, according to Pliny, began at the river Navilubio, and contained 16 peoples; besides the Celtici and Lebuni. Though these tribes were not powerful, and their names "barbarous" to Roman ears, there were among them 166,000 freemen.^[7] The city stood on one of the upper branches of the Minius (modern Minho), on the road from Bracara to Asturica,^[8] and had some famous baths, near from the bridge across the Minho.

Lucus was the seat of a bishopric by the later 5th century at the latest and remained an administrative center under the Suebi and Visigoths, before going into such a decline that the site was found to be deserted in the middle of the eighth century by bishop Odoario, who set about reviving it. Tenth century attempts at rebuilding its casas destructas (abandoned tenements) suggest that it remained a town only on paper: the seat of a bishopric, administered by a count, from which royal charters were issued. "Its commercial and industrial role was insignificant", Richard Fletcher wrote of 11th century Lugo.^[9]

During the Middle Ages Lugo, like Santiago de Compostela, was a center of pilgrimage, because the cathedral had the special privilege, it still retains today, of exposing to the public the consecrated host twenty-four hours a day. In the eighteenth century Lugo was granted the privilege of organizing the fairs of St. Froilán. During the Modern Age, Lugo had a certain supremacy, although other nearby towns such as Mondoñedo or Ribadeo disputed it. It was not until the division of the state into provinces in 1833 and the creation of provincial governments that Lugo has become the most important town from the province of Lugo, because of its capital status. This rise has been bolstered by the arrival of the first railroad to the city in 1875.

During the XX century the city continued to grow as the administration and services center of the province. In 1936, when the Civil War broke out, the city became quickly under the Nationalists control. In the 70s the city met important reforms, like the development of the Ceao Industrial Area (1979) and the complete restoration of the roman walls.

Infanta Elena, the elder daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain and fourth in the line of succession to the Spanish throne, is Duchess of Lugo since 1995.

In 2000, the inscription of the roman walls on UNESCO's World Heritage Site was an important event in the city.

Old Roman bridge over the Miño river.

Economy[link]

Lugo is a city of services. The main activities are commercial, the administration (offices of the autonomous and central Governments) and educational and health services (the recently opened Hospital Universitario Lucus Augusti is the largest in Galicia). The steady increase of population of the city makes the construction of a major economic sectors of the municipality. The industry is very scarce and almost exclusively dedicated to the processing of agricultural products (dairy, meat, timber ...).

There is a big shopping center in the outskirts of the city (As Termas), with a Eroski hypermarket, cinemas, clothing stores like H&M, NewYorker or Cortefiel and many restaurants and fast food chains like McDonald's. It's also in construction a new shopping center (Abella), which will host a E.Leclerc hypermarket.

The University of Santiago de Compostela has several faculties in Lugo Campus, emphasizing the Faculty of Veterinary, one of the leading in its field in Spain.

Daily newspaper El Progreso, is published in the city. It's the most read newspaper in the province of Lugo.

There is private aerodrome in the nearby town of Rozas, owned by the Spanish Ministry of Defence and administered by Real Aero Club de Lugo. In 2011, the Ministry of Defence transferred the installations to INTA, the Spain's space agency, in order to convert it in a center of aeronautical research,^[10]

Main sights[link]

Lugo is the only city in the world to be surrounded by completely intact Roman walls, which reach a height of 10 to 15 metres along a 2117 m circuit ringed with 71 towers. The walk along the top is continuous round the circuit, and features ten gates. These 3rd century walls are protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The bridge over the Minho is essentially of Roman date, though many repairs over the centuries have effaced its Roman character.

Other sources suggest that the name Lucus Augusti comes from the Latin word Lucus, which means "sacred grove", or "sacred forest", as the city was founded on the place of a small grove.

Besides the walls, sights include:

• the Cathedral, dedicated to St. Mary, built about 1129, though the actual main facade and towers date only from 1769. Its elegant stalls were carved by Francisco Mouro in 1624. This cathedral enjoys the privilege of having the Blessed Sacrament perpetually exposed, a fact commemorated in the armorial bearings of the town.
• Convent and church of St. Francis, in Gothic style, with remains of the sober cloister. It currently houses the Museo Provincial, which shows a display of Galician art and other building of the 18th century
• Church of St. Dominic
• City Hall (Casa do Concello in Galician), a large Baroque structure with a mid-18th century façade. Annexed is a clock tower, originally from the 16th century, but rebuilt later.
• Palace of the arts (Círculo das Artes)
• The Roman Bridge over river Minho.
• Rosalía de Castro Park, a 23 ha park in the city center. It has a small pond in the middle and contains many species of trees, like three sequoias.

Two important festivals take place in Lugo:

• Saint Froilan festivity, which lasts from 4–12 October, dedicated to the city's patron saint. It's a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest and it's very popular to eat polbo á feira in one of the many stands near Rosalía de Castro park.
• Arde Lucus, festival celebrated in the last weeks of June which revives the Roman and castro past of the city, and which emerged to commemorate the declaration of the city's Roman wall as a World Heritage Site in 2000. In its latest editions it has reached nearly half a million visitors.

Sports[link]

The most popular and known professional team of the city is the basketball team CB Breogán, currently playing in LEB league, the second division in Spain, although it has played many seasons in Liga ACB the top Spanish basketball league. The team occupies the 9th position in the historical ranking of that league.

Futsal is also popular in Lugo, represented by Azkar Lugo, which plays in Spanish first division.

The football team of Lugo is CD Lugo, currently playing in Spanish Segunda División B.

Twin towns[link]

• Dinan, France
• Viana do Castelo, Portugal
• Qinhuangdao, People's Republic of China

See also[link]

• List of Spanish cities
• List of municipalities in Lugo
• Diocese of Lugo

Sources and references[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–57). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray. 
• Pictures and information about the city
• Photos of Lugo
• Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976: Lucus Augusti (Lugo), Lugo, Spain"

Notes[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lugo

1. ^ http://www.ige.eu/igebdt/esqv.jsp?ruta=verTabla.jsp?OP=1&B=1&M=&COD=966&R=9915[12:27028];0[5:10];1[all]&C=2[0]&F=&S=
2. ^ http://www.ige.eu/igebdt/esqv.jsp?ruta=verTabla.jsp?OP=1&B=1&M=&COD=3015&R=2[3]&C=1[0];0[all]&F=&S=
3. ^ "Lugo Climate & Temperature". Climate & Temperature. http://www.climatetemp.info/spain/lugo.html. Retrieved 2011-11-07. 
4. ^ Alexei Kondratiev (2007). "Lugus: The Many-Gifted Lord". Mythical Ireland. http://www.mythicalireland.com/mythology/tuathade/lugus.html. Retrieved June 7, 2010. 
5. ^ noted as Λοῦκος Αὐγούστον by Ptolemy, ii. 6. § 24
6. ^ The cardo and decumanus of the ancient plan can still be recognized in the modern street plan.
7. ^ Pliny, iii. 3. s. 4, iv. 20. s. 34
8. ^ Itin. Ant. pp. 424, 430
9. ^ Richard A. Fletcher, 1984. Saint James's Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmírez of Santiago de Compostela (Oxford University Press) (on-line text, ch. 1)
10. ^ http://elprogreso.galiciae.com/nova/82213.html

External links[link]

• Photographs of Lugo
• Site of the Lugo city walls in Google Maps

v t e Cities in Galicia Santiago de Compostela A Coruña Vigo Pontevedra Ferrol Lugo Ourense

v t e Municipalities in the province of Lugo Abadín Alfoz Antas de Ulla Baleira Baralla Barreiros Becerreá Begonte Bóveda Burela Carballedo Castro de Rei Castroverde Cervantes Cervo Chantada O Corgo Cospeito Folgoso do Courel A Fonsagrada Foz Friol Guitiriz Guntín O Incio Láncara Lourenzá Lugo Meira Mondoñedo Monforte de Lemos Monterroso Muras Navia de Suarna Negueira de Muñiz As Nogais Ourol Outeiro de Rei Palas de Rei Pantón Paradela O Páramo A Pastoriza Pedrafita do Cebreiro A Pobra do Brollón Pol A Pontenova Portomarín Quiroga Rábade Ribadeo Ribas de Sil Ribeira de Piquín Riotorto Samos Sarria O Saviñao Sober Taboada Trabada Triacastela O Valadouro O Vicedo Vilalba Viveiro Xermade Xove

v t e Capitals of provinces of Spain A Coruña Albacete Alicante Almería Ávila Badajoz Barcelona Bilbao Burgos Cáceres Cádiz Castellón de la Plana Ciudad Real Córdoba Cuenca Donostia-San Sebastián Girona Granada Guadalajara Huelva Huesca Jaén Logroño Las Palmas León Lleida Lugo Madrid Málaga Murcia Ourense Oviedo Palencia Palma Pamplona Pontevedra Salamanca Santander Santa Cruz Segovia Seville Soria Tarragona Teruel Toledo Valencia Valladolid Vitoria-Gasteiz Zamora Zaragoza