Paraguay removes President Peña through impeachment following Ueno Bank collapse
Paraguay's Senate unanimously removed Santiago Peña following the Ueno Bank scandal. Vice President Pedro Alliana will assume the presidency until 2028.
Paraguayan Senate votes unanimously for Peña's removal
Paraguay's Congress removed President Santiago Peña on Friday through an impeachment process linked to the collapse of Ueno Bank, one of the country's main banks. According to El Deber, the Senate declared him guilty of gross misconduct with 44 votes in favour and one absence, with no legislators voting against.
Vice President Pedro Alliana must assume the presidency to complete the mandate, which concludes in August 2028.
The trigger: intervention in Ueno Bank
The Central Bank intervened in Ueno Bank this week after determining that the entity had fallen below required solvency minimums. The crisis left the money of millions of customers in limbo, including the Social Welfare Institute, the state entity that administers pensions and social security in Paraguay.
Peña was a shareholder in the business group linked to Ueno Bank at least until 2025, which led to accusations of an alleged conflict of interest. This was the central accusation during the political process that culminated in his removal.
The rejected resignation and its consequences
On Thursday, Peña had submitted his resignation. The opposition interpreted the move as an attempt to avoid criminal prosecution, since had it been accepted, the president would have become a lifetime senator and would have retained parliamentary immunity that only a parliamentary vote could have stripped from him.
Congress convened a joint session to vote on the resignation, but the vote was thwarted when deputies from the Colorado Party—the party to which Peña himself belonged—abandoned the plenary and quorum was declared lacking. The agreement between the caucuses was then for the Senate to directly proceed with the impeachment process that the Chamber of Deputies had approved hours earlier, even with the votes of representatives from the ruling party.
The removal was finalised less than 24 hours after Peña submitted his resignation, rendering it null and void.
Peña exposed to prosecution
By being removed through impeachment rather than stepping down voluntarily, Peña is now exposed to possible criminal liability within the framework of the investigation already being conducted by the Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the Ueno Bank case. Several opposition lawmakers called during the session for him to be detained to answer for his management regarding the bank.
On Friday afternoon, Peña published a message on X with a farewell tone. "I do not want my presence to be a cause of greater division or instability. My responsibility is to put the country above my personal fate," he wrote. The former president asserted that he submitted his resignation to help restore tranquillity to Paraguay, and called for a united effort to "rebuild institutions and restore confidence".
Source: El Deber