Santiago Peña detained in Paraguay following removal from office over Ueno Bank fraud
Paraguay's Senate approved Peña's removal with 44 votes; he was arrested alongside former Central Bank president Carlos Carvallo.
Paraguayan Senate removes Peña; former president transferred to military unit
Paraguay's Senate approved the removal of former president Santiago Peña on Friday, according to lavozdelosquesobran.cl. The vote yielded 44 votes in favour and a single abstention, as part of an impeachment trial initiated over Peña's responsibility for the crisis generated by financial fraud at Ueno Bank, an institution of which the president had become a shareholder.
The day before, on Thursday 5 November, Peña had attempted to present his resignation, but Congress rejected it. Had it been accepted, he would have retained his political rights and could have assumed a lifetime seat in the Senate, a benefit recognised by Paraguay's Constitution to former presidents who complete their term. With the rejection of the resignation and approval of the removal, that right was eliminated, along with special immunity before the courts.
The loss of immunity had immediate consequences: minutes after the removal was approved, the Asunción Court granted a request by the Public Prosecution Service and ordered the detention of Peña and former Central Bank president Carlos Carvallo, also implicated in the Ueno Bank scandal.
Peña spent the initial hours under house arrest, but in the early hours of Saturday 7 November he was transferred to the Escolta Regiment, a unit of the Armed Forces. During those hours, police responded with rubber bullet fire against protesters demonstrating in the vicinity.
Following the impeachment trial, then vice-president Pedro Alliana was sworn in before Congress and assumed the presidency. However, his situation also generates questions. Opposition leader Efraín Alegre, of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) and runner-up in the 2023 elections, claims that Alliana is equally involved in the Ueno Bank case.
"In my view, Alliana cannot be president, because he is partly responsible for this coup against the Paraguayan people. How will this end? Honestly, we do not know. The uncertainty is great. There is enormous distrust and citizens are mobilised in the streets. Could it end in early elections? It is possible, why not?", Alegre declared to local media.
Source: Google News CL — Santiago