Paraguay President Santiago Peña resigned on Thursday after the collapse of Ueno Bank, a major digital lender, left millions of customers unable to access their money and sent protesters into the streets of the capital, Asunción. The resignation came as lawmakers in Congress moved to impeach him over his ties to the failed bank.
FAKTA
- President Santiago Peña resigned on Thursday, 5 November 2026, after the collapse of Ueno Bank.
- Paraguay’s lower house voted 78–0 to impeach him minutes after he announced his resignation.
- Ueno Bank had about 3 million customers in a country of 6.5 million people.
- The central bank seized the lender on Tuesday after its capital fell below half the legal minimum.
- Vice President Pedro Alliana is set to take over as president and serve through August 2028.
Paraguay President Resigns as Congress Debated Impeachment
Mr Peña announced his decision in a video posted to X as lawmakers gathered inside the Legislative Palace to debate his impeachment. “I have made the decision to submit my resignation from the Presidency of the Republic,” he said.
“I do so with the stability of our country, social peace, and the need to preserve our democratic institutions in mind,” he added in the recorded address.
Minutes after the announcement, the Chamber of Deputies voted unanimously, 78–0, to impeach the president, sending the charges to the Senate, where a two-thirds majority would be required to convict him and formally remove him from office. The vote marked a sharp break with his own long-ruling Colorado Party, whose lawmakers joined the opposition in backing impeachment after three days of demonstrations in the capital.
Mr Peña, who took office in August 2023 for a five-year term, offered an apology but stopped short of accepting responsibility for the banking crisis. “I also want to apologize to the people if I have failed them at any point,” he said. “It was never my intention to betray the trust they placed in me.”
Congress was expected to formally accept Mr Peña’s resignation at 5 p.m. local time, clearing the way for Vice President Pedro Alliana to be sworn in as president an hour later. Mr Alliana would serve out Mr Peña’s term through August 2028, with lawmakers expected to choose a new vice president.
From Star Lender to Seized Bank
Ueno Bank grew in less than five years from an obscure finance company into a household name, claiming more than 60 percent of Paraguay’s adults as customers. The digital lender, a rebranded version of a decades-old finance company, attracted customers with generous cash-back offers, grew to more than 70 locations, sponsored Paraguay’s national soccer team and put its name on the country’s main stadium.
Government money poured into Ueno under Mr Peña. As of last month, the bank reported holding roughly $800 million in public deposits, about a quarter of its total, including money from the state pension and health fund and the operators of Paraguay’s giant hydroelectric dams. Mr Peña also appointed Carlos Carvallo, who previously chaired Financiera Ueno, the predecessor to Ueno Bank, to run the central bank, the agency charged with supervising the digital lender.
Santiago Peña at his inauguration in Asunción in August 2023. (Photo: Office of the President of Taiwan via Wikimedia Commons)
Worries had been escalating inside the central bank for months. In June, its inspectors found a pattern of risky lending to companies tied to the bank’s owners, beyond what the law allows and without enough collateral to cover the debts, according to ABC Color, a leading Paraguayan newspaper. On a single day in September 2025, nearly $39 million had gone to three such companies.
Mr Peña repeatedly brushed off the warnings. As recently as last month, he defended Ueno and the central bank’s oversight, dismissing the concerns as a smear campaign.
On Monday, it all came crashing down. Regulators investigating Ueno’s loans to companies linked to its owners found poorly documented lending, the central bank said, as well as expenses the bank had wrongly counted as assets. Once the books were corrected, Ueno’s capital — the cushion banks must keep to absorb losses — had fallen to less than half the legal minimum. The central bank seized the lender on Tuesday and announced plans to move customers’ accounts, along with whatever assets still hold value, to other banks before liquidating what is left.
Authorities have detained eight senior Ueno executives, including founder Miguel Vázquez and bank President Juan Manuel Gustale. Prosecutors also charged 27 bank officials and business associates with offences including breach of trust and attempted fraud.
Lawmakers had accused Mr Peña of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups linked to the collapse of Ueno. Mr Peña held a stake in a company related to Ueno Bank until last year, and the impeachment motion also questioned his appointment of Mr Carvallo as central bank chief. Mr Carvallo resigned on Tuesday at Mr Peña’s request, and Pedro Acosta Bernal was appointed interim central bank president on Wednesday.
Protests in the Streets
Ueno’s app, cards and transfers went dark and its branches locked their doors, leaving depositors lined up outside with no way to cash out their savings. About 7,000 employees of the bank were left with unpaid wages, and officials said they had begun repaying depositors, opening new accounts elsewhere for about 280,000 people who had banked only with Ueno. On Wednesday, a rush to open new accounts elsewhere crashed other banks’ mobile apps, fuelling public panic.
Protesters marched in Asunción for a third day on Thursday, demanding the return of their money and Mr Peña’s removal. Riot police fired pepper spray and rubber pellets to push back the crowds. Hundreds of employees of Ueno Bank and other companies belonging to Grupo Vázquez, the bank’s parent conglomerate, protested outside the Labor Ministry on Thursday, demanding severance and unpaid wages.
What Happens Next
With Congress expected to accept the resignation and Mr Alliana set to be sworn in, Paraguay faces a transfer of power later on Thursday. The central bank has said the country’s wider banking system is sound, and officials have begun moving Ueno customers’ accounts to other banks. For the millions of Paraguayans locked out of their savings, the question now is how quickly their money will be returned. More world news from Watan News is available on our World news page.
