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Federico Franco

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this Hispanic American name, the first or paternal surname is Franco and the second or maternal family name is Gómez.

Federico Franco
Franco in 2012
49th President of Paraguay
In office
22 June 2012 – 15 August 2013
Vice PresidentÓscar Denis
Preceded byFernando Lugo
Succeeded byHoracio Cartes
Vice President of Paraguay
In office
15 August 2008 – 22 June 2012
PresidentFernando Lugo
Preceded byFrancisco Oviedo
Succeeded byÓscar Denis
Personal details
BornLuis Federico Franco Gómez
(1962-07-24) 24 July 1962 (age 63)
Asunción, Paraguay
PartyAuthentic Radical Liberal Party
Other political
affiliations		Patriotic Alliance for Change (2007–10)
SpouseEmilia Alfaro (married 1982)
ChildrenFour
Alma materNational University of Asuncion

Luis Federico Franco Gómez (born 24 July 1962) is a Paraguayan politician who was President of Paraguay from June 2012 until August 2013. 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; he took office in August 2008.[1] Following Lugo's impeachment by the Senate on 22 June 2012, he succeeded Lugo as President[2] to complete the presidential mandate until 15 August 2013.

Franco is a surgeon by profession. He is the brother of Julio César Franco, 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.

Biography

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Early life

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Federico Franco was born in the city of Asunción on 24 July 1962. He was married on 20 February 1982 to Emilia Alfaro, elected deputy of Paraguay for the period 2008–2013. He is the father of four children.

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 Asunción. 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.

Medical career

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The Franco family owns a hospital in the city of Fernando de la Mora (Sanatorio Franco), he and his brothers owned, staffed since its inception. During the period 1990–1991 he served as head of interns and residents 1CCM Hospital de Clinicas (HC), also as head of emergency call, 1CCM (HC). He was an instructor of medical semiology (1991–1992), head of National Guard Hospital (1994–1996) and chief of internal medicine residents from the same place. He was also chief room of the National Hospital Medical Clinic and head of cardiology ward of the hospital.

On 24 June 1991 was a member of the Paraguayan Society of Internal Medicine and member of the Executive Committee of the Paraguayan Society of Internal Medicine.

Political career

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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 ran 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.[3]

Lugo was impeached on 21 June 2012 and removed from office a day later. The UNASUR expressed concerns that Lugo's removal amounted to a coup d'état, since Lugo had only two hours to prepare a defense.[4] Federico Franco then became the new president, taking the oath of office an hour later. He served the balance of Lugo's term, which lasted until August 2013.[5] He was barred from running for a full term in 2013; the Constitution does not allow a president to run for reelection even if he serves a partial term.

Presidency

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One of Franco's first acts was to replace Rubén Candia Amarilla as Interior Minister with Carmelo Caballero. Candia Amarilla had briefly succeeded Carlos Filizzola as Fernando Lugo's Interior Minister, after Filizzola resigned on 15 June.[6] Franco also promptly resumed stalled negotiations with Rio Tinto Alcan over a $4 billion aluminum plant and approved sales of genetically modified soy beans from Monsanto.[7][8] He also appoints several agribusiness representatives to his government. Budget cuts in social programmes are announced, as well as lay-offs in the public sector.

Corruption
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In spite of its brevity and of the initial good economic situation of Paraguay, the presidential management of Federico Franco was characterized by the significant increase of the financial deficit of the country. After his departure from power, the new government blamed him for having plundered the state's resources through a vast system of corruption and clientelism organized around the Liberal Party.[9]

The former president was subsequently denounced by several of his political collaborators (one of whom himself was sentenced to 6 years in prison for corruption) for misappropriations of public money made on his initiative.[10]

From 2008, when he took office in the government, to its exit of the power in 2012, his fortune increased by almost 750%.[11]

Itaipu Binacional
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In August 2012, Franco announced in the media that his government would conduct audits of the Itaipu Pension Fund (Cajubi) to uncover millions in misappropriated funds and that all avenues for recovering the lost funds would be exhausted.[12]

On August 10, 2012, ABC Color reported that mutual accusations were hindering efforts to recover funds from Cajubi, and that the author of the blog “El Engaño Guaraní” (The Guarani Deception) was Guatemalan Eduardo García Obregón.[13][14]

In August and September 2012, during his presidency, the fee agreement for former prosecutor and Cajubi's lawyer, Rafael Fernández (signed during the administration of his predecessor, Fernando Lugo), was rejected and renegotiated. The new Legal Director of Itaipu, Eusebio Ramon Ayala, described the agreement as quasi-criminal and exploitative. Fernández's fee was reduced from USD 4 million to USD 2 million.[15][16][17][18]

Cabinet
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References

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  1. ^ "Profile". Presidency of Paraguay. Archived from the original on 19 March 2009.
  2. ^ "Federico Franco". BBC News. 23 June 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  3. ^ "¿Quién es Federico Franco, el nuevo presidente paraguayo?" [Who is Federico Franco, the new Paraguayan president?]. La Nación (in Spanish). 22 June 2012. Archived from the original on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  4. ^ "COMUNICADO UNASUR Asunción, 22 de Junio de 2012" (in Spanish). UNASUR. 22 June 2012. Archived from the original on 27 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  5. ^ "Paraguay: Franco asumió tras la destitución de Lugo" [Paraguay: Franco took power after the removal of Lugo]. La Nación (in Spanish). 22 June 2012. Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  6. ^ (in Spanish) laprensa.com.py, 23 June 2012, Infobae: quién es quién en el nuevo Gobierno de Federico Franco[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "Negotiations advance for Rio Tinto aluminum project". LatinoMinería. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2013.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  8. ^ Hummel, Calla (10 October 2012). "Can Paraguay Hurt Monsanto and Rio Tinto?". The Motley Fool. Archived from the original on 7 January 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  9. ^ "Diario HOY | Franco deja "agujero" de US$ 1.000 millones a Horacio Cartes".
  10. ^ "Domingo Laíno presentará denuncia penal contra Federico Franco y Zulma Gómez".
  11. ^ "Federico Franco incrementó 7 veces su patrimonio en los últimos 4 años". 14 October 2012.
  12. ^ "Auditorías en Cajubi, INC y ANDE - Nacionales - ABC Color". www.abc.com.py (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  13. ^ "Acusaciones mutuas dificultan lucha para recuperar fondos de la Cajubi - Política - ABC Color". www.abc.com.py (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  14. ^ "El Engano Guarani :: El Informe". elenganoguarani.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  15. ^ "Boccia afirma que Itaipú no pagará el contrato de abogado de la Cajubi". Última Hora (in Spanish). 10 August 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  16. ^ "Itaipú exige a Cajubianular el polémico contrato con abogado". Última Hora (in Spanish). 8 August 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  17. ^ "Quieren anular contrato entre abogado y Cajubi - Judiciales - ABC Color". www.abc.com.py (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  18. ^ "La Cajubi reduce en USD 2 millones el polémico contrato con abogado". Última Hora (in Spanish). 23 September 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h "Franco's ministers sworn in" (in Spanish). Clarín.com. 25 June 2012.
  20. ^ "New Finance Minister" (in Spanish). Finanzas.com. 26 June 2012. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
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