Paraguayan president impeached and placed under house arrest after bank collapse
President Santiago Peña was removed from office, sentenced to house arrest and succeeded by Vice President Pedro Alliana following the collapse of Ueno Bank.
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña was impeached by the Senate and ordered to remain under house arrest after a state-linked bank collapsed, leaving millions of citizens unable to access their funds. The Senate voted unanimously to find Peña guilty of malfeasance in office, and prosecutors added a breach of trust charge before imposing the house-arrest restriction.
Peña, a close ally of Washington and a shareholder in Ueno Bank—a digital lender that served about three million customers, or more than half of Paraguay’s adult population—denied wrongdoing. He had announced his resignation on Thursday, but lawmakers rejected it and proceeded with impeachment.
In a social-media-posted speech, Peña said,
"I want to apologize to the Paraguayan people if I have failed you."
Vice President Pedro Alliana was sworn in as president to complete the term ending in August 2028. He pledged to take steps to compensate those who lost money in the bank’s failure.
Paraguay’s central bank seized control of Ueno Bank after determining that its solvency ratio no longer met legal standards, prompting protests in the capital, Asunción.