The book argues that Fernando Lugo’s rise was not a fluke but the culmination of 500 years of resistance—from Jesuit missions to the bloody War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870) to the 35-year Stroessner dictatorship (1954–1989). O’Shaughnessy frames Lugo as the "bishop of the poor," who broke from Vatican orthodoxy to champion landless campesinos against the Colorado Party machine.
Unlike Óscar Romero of El Salvador (who was martyred), Lugo survived—only to be defrocked by the Vatican in 2009 for refusing to give up his political office. The Catholic Church’s Canon 285 explicitly forbids clerics from holding public office. Lugo chose the presidency over the priesthood, a decision O’Shaughnessy portrays as tragic but necessary.
Lugo was removed from office in less than 24 hours following a deadly land clash between police and landless peasants in Curuguaty. Critics—including O’Shaughnessy—call this a "technical coup." Lugo accepted the result to avoid bloodshed, but the book argues that Paraguay’s elite never intended to let a peasant-priest succeed. 4. Where to Officially Download or Purchase the PDF If you need the "The Priest of Paraguay Fernando Lugo and the Making of a Nation book PDF upd" for research or personal use, follow this tiered strategy: