Paraguay’s President Peña resigns over Ueno Bank collapse, then lawmakers vote to impeach him

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña resigned on Thursday, and lawmakers moved to impeach him within minutes, as public anger mounted over the failure of Ueno Bank, a digital lender linked to him. Euronews reported that deputies were unanimous in backing his impeachment, while the BBC described the lower house vote as approval to pursue an impeachment trial.

Peña, a conservative ally of US President Donald Trump, announced his decision in a video posted on X while Congress was debating his removal. He said he was acting with the country’s stability, social peace and democratic institutions in mind. “I want to apologise to the people if at any point I failed,” he said, adding that betraying public trust was never his intention. Euronews noted that he expressed contrition but did not accept blame for the banking crisis.

The accusations

According to Al Jazeera, lawmakers accuse him of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups connected to Ueno’s failure. The BBC reported that Peña held shares until last year in the company that owned the bank, and that he has rejected suggestions of impropriety.

Al Jazeera’s Latin America editor Lucia Newman said he stands accused of negligence at the very least and of complicity in hiding the bank’s insolvency. She added that people gathered outside Congress were urging legislators not to accept the resignation, because they want him tried.

How the bank fell

The central bank took control of Ueno on Tuesday, citing a severe capital shortfall. Euronews reported that regulators found poorly documented lending and expenses wrongly booked as assets; after the books were corrected, capital stood half below the legal minimum. The lender’s app, cards and transfers stopped working, and long queues formed outside its branches.

Ueno says it has about three million customers, equal to roughly 60% of Paraguay’s adults, in a country of 6.5 million people, according to the BBC and Al Jazeera. About 7,000 of its employees are owed wages, Euronews said. The bank held public money as well: Euronews put the figure near $800 million, including funds from the state pension and health system, while Al Jazeera cited close to $850 million.

Euronews, citing the newspaper ABC Color, said central bank inspectors identified risky lending to insiders in June, including nearly $39 million sent to three connected companies on a single day in September 2025. Peña had named Carlos Carvallo, who led Ueno’s predecessor firm, to head the central bank, and he had dismissed earlier concerns as a smear campaign, Euronews wrote.

What happens next

Al Jazeera said Peña had lost the support of some members of his own party before he quit, and Vice President Pedro Alliana is set to take over. The BBC reported that a new central bank president has been appointed and that Congress has approved a process for paying depositors.

It remains unclear how the impeachment proceedings will proceed now that Peña has left office, and whether lawmakers will accept the resignation, as demonstrators outside Congress have urged them not to. Peña, of the ruling Colorado Party, won the presidency in 2023.