Police discover impregnable bunker with Israeli technology at Peña's mansion
Paraguay's Public Prosecutor's Office raided the summer residence of former president Santiago Peña in San Bernardino on Sunday and found an armoured vault with an iris biometric reader that they could not open.
Impenetrable fortification at Peña's mansion
Fiscal agents who raided the summer mansion of former president Santiago Peña in San Bernardino, 45 kilometres from Asunción, on Sunday discovered an armoured vault equipped with an Israeli-made security system after hours of searching. The bunker door requires iris recognition to access, according to elpais.com. The investigators failed to breach the entrance despite having a court order.
Prosecutor Silvia González, who headed the operation alongside Christian Benítez and Elena Fiore, acknowledged the failure to the media. "We arrived with a court order and were able to enter the property. Unfortunately, we could not complete our work because we found the security vault, which is highly complex," she stated. The device combines digital codes, physical keys, and biometric readers for fingerprints and irises.
Technicians present at the scene ruled out using explosives to open the structure due to the high risk: the chamber is located directly beneath a large swimming pool. Nor was it considered to bring Peña or his wife, Leticia Ocampos, to compel them to open the chamber, anticipating a refusal. The Public Prosecutor's Office ultimately decided to seal the residence while legal proceedings continue.
Neighbours in the area, speaking anonymously, reported that between Friday and Saturday four-wheel-drive vehicles with tinted windows repeatedly circulated entering and leaving the property. One resident lamented the procedural delay: "If there was anything of compromising value inside the vault, they surely took it out. As always, our justice system is very slow and gives the powerful time to hide the evidence."
The hidden mansion
The property is located in Ciervo Cuá, a rural area of San Bernardino situated in a zone of gated communities with private armed security and restricted access, near Lake Ypacaraí. The property measures 1,015 square metres of constructed area on a plot of 5,012 square metres, with two levels, a swimming pool, and an underground bunker.
The property remained secret until January 2025, when newspaper ABC Color revealed its existence under the headline "Santi flaunts mansion amid his extravagance". The journalistic investigation revealed that Peña used the residence as a summer retreat and travelled daily to Asunción by military helicopter at public expense.
Construction began a few months after Peña took office in August 2023, carried out by construction company Gómez Abente. The works lasted 23 months. The estate was registered as Property No. 12598.
The suspicious indebtedness
Following reports about the mansion, Peña was required to include the property in his asset declaration valued at 7,750 million guaraníes, approximately 1.09 million dollars at the exchange rate at the time: 1,450 million for the land and 6,300 million for construction and equipment. Sources in the real estate sector estimate the actual market value at approximately two million dollars.
The former president claimed to have financed the works through the sale of his shares in Ueno Holding S.A.E.C.A. and two loans granted by Ueno Bank in May 2024 for a total of 3,548 million guaraníes. The monthly instalments amounted to 239 million guaraníes, a sum six times his official salary as head of state.
The detail proves compromising: the residence was financed by the same banking entity whose subsequent collapse precipitated Peña's removal through impeachment. The former president faced widespread criticism for the dramatic growth in assets documented: an increase of 1,603 per cent in six years.
The frozen and reactivated investigation
On 2 October 2025, opposition parliamentarians filed a criminal complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office demanding investigation into Peña's asset growth and the financing mechanisms for the mansion. The complaint indicated possible offences of money laundering, abuse of influence, and coercion.
The Public Prosecutor's Office left the case frozen and only reactivated inquiries after Peña left office, more than a year later. This delay prompted the opposition to now promote an impeachment trial against the general prosecutor, Emiliano Rolón.
Under the administration of new president Pedro Alliana, investigations into the financial scheme have advanced on several fronts with new revelations and precautionary measures. However, investigators were still unable to access the armoured bunker in San Bernardino until the time of Sunday's raid.
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)