Paraguay president quits as Ueno Bank crisis sparks protests, impeachment proceedings
ASUNCION, Nov 6 — Paraguayan President Santiago Pena announced his resignation over a banking crisis on Thursday, minutes before lawmakers voted to launch impeachment proceedings against him.
The Central Bank takeover of Ueno Bank on Tuesday blocked some three million people—almost half of Paraguay’s population—from accessing their money and triggered protests across the country.
Opposition lawmakers on Wednesday submitted a request to impeach Pena over the crisis, alleging misconduct and a conflict of interest in dealings with the bank to which he is tied.
“I want to apologize to the people if at any point I failed. It was never my intention to betray the trust you placed in me,” the right-wing president said in a video announcing his resignation on X.
Pena’s priority, he added, is “the peace of mind of Paraguayans who entrusted their savings to our financial system.”
Minutes after his resignation, lawmakers unanimously approved the launch of impeachment proceedings against him while rejecting the same measure against Vice President Pedro Alliana.
Nowhere to live
Some three million depositors, including pensioners, lost access to their money with the seizure of Ueno Bank.
“Ueno approved a loan for us to buy our first house. But the funds were never disbursed, and now we have nowhere to live,” 26-year-old Nadia Gonzalez, a mother of three, told AFP.
Long lines of people trying to withdraw their money from Ueno branches snaked down Asuncion’s streets on Tuesday and Wednesday, while angry protests swarmed the capital on both evenings.
Paraguay’s Central Bank said it took over Ueno due to a severe capital shortfall, in order to “protect depositors and preserve the stability of the financial system.”
Pena owned shares in a group that controlled the bank, but he sold them last year.
Congress called an extraordinary session of both chambers on Thursday to decide whether to accept Pena’s resignation or reject it and proceed with the impeachment process.
The president’s political immunity is at the crux of the dilemma, constitutional expert Alcibiades Gonzalez Delvalle told AFP.
“You can’t just accept the resignation offhand while an impeachment process is underway,” Delvalle said.
“If it is accepted, Pena retains his immunity,” he said, adding that if an impeachment trial finds him guilty, “he loses his immunity.”
In either case, Alliana will take over as leader of the South American nation, according to Delvalle.
Pena had attempted to ease tensions by requesting the resignation of Central Bank president Carlos Carvallo, who consented, and setting a five-day limit for the return of funds.
But the measures proved insufficient, with hundreds of demonstrators demanding the Paraguayan leader’s removal and clashing with police, who used tear gas and water cannons on the crowd.
Pena served as finance minister before becoming president in 2023.
