Paraguay’s Senate has voted to remove President Santiago Peña from office over the collapse of digital bank ueno, and has sworn in Vice President Pedro Alliana as the country’s new president. Hours after the vote, prosecutors placed Peña under house arrest as a criminal investigation into the bank crisis widens.
The Senate voted on Friday, 6 November, with 44 of its 45 members backing Peña’s removal. Alliana was sworn in soon afterwards and will serve out the remainder of the presidential term, which runs through August 2028.
FAKTA
- Senate vote: 44 of the Senate’s 45 members voted on Friday, 6 November 2026, to remove President Santiago Peña from office.
- New president: Pedro Alliana, Peña’s vice president, was sworn in on Friday and will serve the remainder of the term through August 2028.
- Peña under house arrest: prosecutors placed the ousted president under house arrest on Friday night and ordered him to appear before the prosecutor’s office on Saturday morning.
- The bank: ueno, a digital bank whose collapse froze the accounts of about three million customers — nearly half of Paraguay’s population.
- Criminal cases: the Attorney General has opened three criminal investigations into the crisis; an arrest warrant has also been issued for former central bank chief Carlos Carvallo.
- Bank executives: eight former ueno executives have been detained, including the bank’s founder Miguel Vázquez and bank president Juan Manuel Gustale.
Paraguay Senate Removes Peña Over Ueno Bank Collapse
Peña had offered his resignation on Thursday, after the collapse of ueno triggered protests and cost him the support of his own Colorado Party. The lower house voted 78-0 to impeach him minutes later, but both houses of Congress declined to accept his resignation and the Senate instead pressed ahead with a trial.
By completing the impeachment process rather than accepting the resignation, senators stripped Peña of the lifetime Senate seat and the parliamentary immunity granted to former presidents, leaving him open to prosecution.
The impeachment charges alleged that Peña had conflicts of interest, manipulated regulatory oversight, diverted pension funds and took part in an institutional cover-up involving the central bank. Peña, 47, a former International Monetary Fund economist who was elected president in 2023, had held shares in a company connected to ueno until March 2025, according to reports.
Alliana Sworn In as President
Alliana was sworn in as Paraguay’s new president on Friday, about an hour after the Senate vote, and will complete the 2023–2028 presidential term.
The transfer of power brings to an end a week of fast-moving political crisis that began when the central bank seized ueno and froze the savings of millions of Paraguayans.
Peña Placed Under House Arrest
Following the Senate vote, prosecutors ordered the arrest of the ousted president. Police took Peña into custody at his home in Asunción on Friday night, after a court issued a detention order citing alleged breach of trust and other crimes linked to the banking scandal.
Prosecutors speaking outside Peña’s house said the charges were still being determined but could include influence peddling. Peña was ordered to appear at the prosecutor’s office on Saturday morning.
Prosecutors also issued an arrest warrant for Carvallo, who resigned as central bank chief earlier in the week as the crisis deepened. Attorney General Emiliano Rolón Fernández has opened three criminal investigations into the ueno crisis, including allegations involving Peña and current and former government officials.
The Ueno Bank Collapse
The crisis began on Tuesday, when Paraguay’s central bank seized ueno, the country’s largest digital bank, after its solvency ratio fell to 5.56 percent against a legal minimum of 12 percent. The intervention froze the accounts of about three million customers and left hundreds of millions of dollars in public and pension funds caught up in the bank.
Peña announced his resignation on Thursday as protesters took to the streets of Asunción for a third day and lawmakers from his own party joined the opposition in backing his removal.
A judge had already ordered six ueno executives jailed pending trial, with two others placed under house arrest, and prosecutors have charged 27 bank officials and associates with breach of trust and attempted fraud.
Alliana now takes office as prosecutors continue their investigation and depositors wait for access to their frozen savings.
