Paraguayan President Santiago Peña announced his resignation and was impeached by the country’s lower house of Congress following the sudden collapse of Ueno Bank, which froze the savings of millions of citizens and sparked mass protests.
Santiago Peña announced his resignation following a political crisis sparked by the collapse of a bank linked to him.
“I want to apologise to the people if at any point I failed,” he said in a video message on social media. “It was never my intention to betray the trust you placed in me.”
The crisis erupted after Ueno Bank entered an insolvency process, which froze all operations.
Lawmakers accused Peña, who was a shareholder until last year in the company that owned the bank, of conflicts of interest and misconduct.
The crisis at Ueno Bank turned Peña’s long-ruling Colorado Party against him, a stunning reversal for the former International Monetary Fund economist who had enjoyed the backing of the country’s most powerful politicians and was welcomed in Washington just weeks ago as a key ally of the Trump administration.
Minutes after Peña’s announcement, the lower house voted 78-0 to impeach him, sending the charges to the Senate. Congressional leaders were expected to accept his resignation later Thursday, clearing the way for Vice President Pedro Alliana to be sworn in without waiting for a Senate trial.
Opposition senators were still demanding a trial, arguing that allowing Peña to resign would preserve his eligibility to become a senator for life, with legal protections that could prevent his prosecution.
As lawmakers debated his impeachment, Peña said in a video posted to X that he was stepping down in the interest of “the stability of our country, social peace and the need to preserve our democratic institutions.”
Even Peña’s mentor, Colorado Party leader and former President Horacio Cartes, backed impeachment, saying the party would not side with “the plundering of public and private funds and pensioners’ money.” The United States Treasury sanctioned Cartes in 2023 over bribery allegations that the Trump administration lifted last year.
Peña, who until last year held a stake in a company linked to Ueno, expressed contrition. But he stopped short of accepting responsibility for the turmoil, which has left millions of depositors, retirees and workers scrambling to recoup their frozen savings and unpaid wages.
The turmoil has hit Paraguay’s currency. The guaraní fell nearly 4% against the U.S. dollar Thursday, bringing its losses this week to nearly 7%, according to central bank exchange-rate data.