Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez (Spanish pronunciation: [feɾˈnando aɾˈmindo ˈluɣo ˈmendes]; born 30 May 1951) is a Paraguayan politician and laicized Catholic bishop who was President of Paraguay from 2008 to 2012.

His maternal uncle, Epifanio Méndez Fleitas, was a co-conspirator in the 1954 Paraguayan coup d'état that helped bring Alfredo Stroessner to power.

In Ecuador he learned about liberation theology and taught classes at the Centro Biblio Verbo Divino in Quito.

During 2006, opinion polls published by Diario ABC Color newspaper showed him as a possible choice for the opposition's presidential candidacy.

Although he said he found the presidency of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela interesting, he 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 received during the course of his political activities.

[10] On 29 October 2007, he registered as member of the small Christian Democratic Party of Paraguay (CDP), which allowed him to file as a candidate.

[11] The CDP became the core of the Patriotic Alliance for Change, a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties and social movements which backed Lugo for President.

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.

Lugo's 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.

[24] On 15 June 2012, seventeen people were killed in a clash between landless farmers and the police who were trying to evict them; some sources consider that all this was taken as a pretext to expel Lugo.

[42] The Chamber of Deputies cited this event as well as insecurity, nepotism and a controversial land purchase to vote 76 to 1 to impeach Lugo on 21 June 2012.

[46] Lugo announced that he would denounce the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, stating that the time to prepare a legal defence, just two hours, may be unconstitutional.

[46] The presidents of Paraguay's neighbouring countries rejected Lugo's removal from office, and compared it to a coup d'état.

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff proposed suspending Paraguay's membership in Mercosur and the Union of South American Nations.

[60] One of the children was conceived with a 24-year-old woman who says they began a sexual relationship when she was sixteen (Paraguay's age of consent is 14[61]) and while he was a bishop.