Fernando Lugo and Leonardo Boff

- Boff and Lugo

There was an interesting post at America magazine's blog on ex-bishop Fernando Lugo, Paraguay's new president - With a few words, Lugo turns the tables.

As Austen Ivereigh wrote, Lugo's appointment of Margarita Mbywangi, a 46-year-old Ache tribal chief, as minister for indigenous affairs, is like a happy ending to the storyline of the movie The Mission, where 18th century Jesuits in South America defended the rights of another indigenous tribe, the Guarani.

Another interesting thing, which wasn't mentioned in Mr. Ivereigh's post, is the acting out of liberation theology's hopes through Lugo's election. I saw a news story - Brazilian theologian says ex-bishop President-elect will apply liberation theology in Paraguay - about Lugo and Leonardo Boff which wrote, in part ....

The controversial ex-priest and leader of Marxist liberation theology, Leonardo Boff of Brazil, said this week that the former bishop and President-elect of Paraguay “fully identifies with liberation theology and plans to implement it in his government, the preferential option for the poor.”

Boff made his comments after a meeting with Lugo, according to the Paraguayan daily “Ultima Hora.” He said it was also “important that policies be adopted to make citizens aware of the importance of conservation in order to protect the environment” and that he met with Lugo “as an environmentalist seeking support for regional environmental projects.”

On July 28, Lugo attended a talk by Boff on education in environmental issues at the National University of Asuncion in the city of San Lorenzo ....

The news story goes on to tell the reader all the reasons Leonardo Boff is not to be listened to, which is not surprising as it's from the Catholic News Agency. Myself, I'm a fan of Boff's, and if you're interested in him, you can check out his site here or take a look at the Jesuit Latin American online journal, Mirada Global, to which he often contributes.