Federico Franco

Luis Federico Franco Gómez (born July 24, 1962) is the current President of Paraguay. A member of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), he was elected as Vice President of Paraguay in the 2008 presidential election as the running mate of Fernando Lugo. Following Lugo's impeachment by the Senate on June 22, 2012, Franco ascended to the Presidency.

Franco is a surgeon by profession. He is the brother of Julio César Franco, current senator and former chairman of Authentic Radical Liberal Party, and also a former Vice President. Federico Franco is also former chairman of PLRA and was Governor of Central Department from 2003 to 2008.

Early Life

Federico Franco was born in the city of Asunción on July 27, 1962. He was married on February 20, 1982 to Emilia Alfaro, elected deputy of Paraguay for the period 2008–2013. He is the father of four children, Luis Federico Franco, Claudia Vanessa, Ivan Alexander and Enzo Sebastian.

Franco studied primary school in the Dominican Republic, its baseline were conducted at the National College of the Capital. His secondary education took place in the Apostolic College San Jose, all in Asunción.

As for the tertiary level, he hoped to become a doctor so he entered the Faculty of Medical Sciences, National University of Asuncion. Upon completion of the coursework in 1986 he received the title of Surgeon with an overall average of 4.56 to 5.00. Then he obtained a graduate degree in Internal Medicine.

Political Career

Federico Franco was governor of the Central department during the 2003–2008 period, for the Authentic Radical Liberal Party. The party discussed in 2008 if they should support the ticket of Lugo in the presidential election or share the candidacy with him; the second option prevailed and Franco run for the vice-presidency under Lugo's ticket. He was critical of the presidency of Lugo, such as with the management of lands and the 2009 controversy about Lugo's son.

Lugo was removed from office on June 22, 2012, by a controversial impeachment in the Congress, which is considered by UNASUR as a coup d'État. Federico Franco became the new president then, taking the oath of office an hour later. He would complete Lugo's mandate, up to August 2013.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Fernando Lugo

Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez (born 30 May 1951) is a former Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of San Pedro and the current President of Paraguay.

Early Life

Lugo's family was not particularly religious; by his own account, he never saw his father set foot in a church. 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.

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.

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. Following his election as President, the Church imposed laicization for his having been elected to political office without permission.

Personal Life

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

From : www.wikipedia.org