ASUNCION, Paraguay - Paraguay is preparing to inaugurate leftist ex-bishop Fernando Lugo as president, ending 61 years of one-party rule in the South American country.
Lugo pledges to do away with the misery and corruption that has defined the desperately poor nation under the Colorado Party.
Friday's ceremony is to be attended by eight Latin American leaders, Taiwan's president and Spain's crown prince.
On the eve of the inauguration, 5,000 people cheered Lugo when he told them he left the church for politics "so Paraguay can stop being known to the world as the country of drug trafficking, corruption and illegality." - AP