Paraguay President Peña resigns and is impeached minutes later after Ueno Bank collapse
About $800 million in public money, including pension and health funds, was held at the bank when the central bank seized it.
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Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña resigned on Thursday, 5 November 2026, and the lower house voted 78-0 to impeach him minutes later, after the Ueno Bank collapse froze the savings of millions of Paraguayans. Vice President Pedro Alliana is in line to take over once Congress accepts the resignation.
What happened after the Ueno Bank collapse
Peña announced his resignation in a video on X as lawmakers debated impeachment. He said he was stepping down in the interest of “the stability of our country, social peace and the need to preserve our democratic institutions”, AP reported.
The impeachment charges now go to the Senate. Opposition senators want a full trial. They argue that resigning would keep Peña eligible for a lifetime Senate seat, with legal protections that could block his prosecution. AP later reported that prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation into Peña over the bank’s failure. He has not been charged.
His own Colorado Party turned against him. Party leader and former President Horacio Cartes, Peña’s mentor, backed impeachment.
Key numbers
- 78-0: the lower house vote to impeach Peña.
- More than 60%: share of Paraguay’s adults who were Ueno customers, according to AP. Euronews put the figure at almost three million customers.
- About $800 million: public money held at Ueno last month, roughly a quarter of its deposits, including state pension and health funds.
- $36,000: the deposit guarantee per customer, which the central bank says covers the full balance of about 97% of clients.
- Nearly 4%: the fall in the guarani against the US dollar on Thursday alone.
Background: Santiago Peña, the Colorado Party and Ueno’s rise
Ueno won its banking licence in 2023 and grew from a little-known finance company into Paraguay’s most visible lender in under five years. It offered cash-back deals, opened 75 branches, sponsored the national football team and put its name on the main stadium, Euronews reported.
Peña held a stake in a company linked to Ueno until last year, and he appointed Carlos Carvallo, former president of Ueno’s predecessor firm, to head the central bank that supervised it. Central bank inspectors flagged risky lending to companies tied to Ueno’s owners in June.
On Monday regulators found poorly documented loans and expenses wrongly booked as assets. Once corrected, Ueno’s capital fell to less than half the legal minimum. The central bank seized the bank on Tuesday, and its app, cards and branches shut overnight.
Prosecutors have charged 27 bank officials and associates with breach of trust and attempted fraud, accusing them of lending heavily to related companies without enough guarantees. A lawyer for one executive said senior managers relied on staff for lending decisions. The Labour Ministry estimates about 7,000 direct and indirect jobs are affected.
What people said
“I want to apologise to the people if I have failed them at any point,” Peña said in his video. He did not accept responsibility for the crisis.
Protesters marching on Congress in Asuncion on Wednesday demanded their money back, and riot police used pepper spray and rubber bullets to push them back.
What happens next
A law rushed through Congress on Wednesday requires a state guarantee fund to repay stranded depositors within five business days, starting with small accounts. The Senate must now decide whether to accept Peña’s resignation or hold an impeachment trial, while the Ueno Bank collapse moves to the courts. More world news is in our World Affairs section and on the World edition home.
Ueno held a large share of ordinary Paraguayans' savings and a quarter of its deposits were public money, so its failure hit pensions, wages and retail spending at once. How quickly the guarantee fund pays out, and whether the Senate holds a trial that strips Peña of immunity, will decide whether the crisis calms or spreads.