Paraguay inaugurates leftist ex-bishop President Lugo

Tens of thousands of Paraguayans cheered as the tieless, sandal-clad Lugo raised his hand in the air and was sworn in, addressing the crowd in both Spanish and the Guarani indigenous language from a huge stage in front of Congress.

In his inaugural address, Lugo pledged to do away with the misery and corruption that has defined the desperately poor nation under the Colorado Party, which supported the brutal 1954-1989 dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner.

“Today Paraguay breaks with its reputation for corruption, breaks with the few feudal lords of the past,” said Lugo, who shaved off most of his trademark beard but stuck with a goatee for the ceremony attended by eight Latin American leaders and Taiwan’s president.

Lugo acknowledged, however, that his path is “paved with the deceptions of the recent dictatorial past.”

The Colorados still control most institutions of government,

and will likely frustrate efforts at land reform in the small landlocked country, where corruption is entrenched and just 1 percent of the population controls 77 percent of the land. Elements of both the left and right have challenged his authority, raising the specter of political chaos and civil unrest.

Landless peasants who have been seizing private property are threatening a much larger wave of invasions as early as this weekend. Members of his team also suspect the outgoing government tried undermine his presidency before it began by allowing critical supplies of fuel and medicine to disappear.

Transforming Paraguayan society “won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible,” Lugo said.

Lugo, 57, spent 11 years as a bishop ministering to poor peasants in Paraguay’s farmbelt before helping form the Patriotic Alliance for Change, his party, several years ago. The presidency is his first elected post.

Despite receiving belated and unprecedented permission from Pope Benedict to resign as bishop, the new president promised Friday that “this layman will remain faithful to his church.”

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