Paraguay President Santiago Peña Resigns After Ueno Bank Collapse Freezes Millions of Accounts

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña resigned on November 5, 2026, hours after the Central Bank of Paraguay placed Ueno Bank into resolution for insolvency, freezing the deposits of approximately three million customers in a country of 6.1 million people.

Peña announced the decision in a recorded video. He said he was stepping down so that the republic would come before any person or circumstance, and that his priority was the stability of the country, social peace, and democratic institutions. The resignation followed days of protests in Asunción after the central bank ordered the intervention early in the week. Bank executives were arrested, and hundreds of thousands of families lost access to funds for daily expenses.

Ueno had grown rapidly under Peña's administration from a small digital lender to one of the largest banks in Paraguay. It held between $800 million and $850 million in deposits from state entities and pension funds. Critics pointed to Peña's previous shareholding ties to Ueno Holding. He said he had disposed of the shares and that his involvement had been only an investment. The central bank found Ueno's solvency ratio had fallen below 50 percent of the required minimum after adjustments to its financial statements.

The lower house of Congress voted 78-0 to impeach Peña on charges of serious and systematic dereliction of duty connected to the bank. The vote occurred minutes after the resignation announcement. The Senate later began consideration of the case. Vice President Pedro Alliana is next in the line of succession. The Senate rejected an impeachment motion against Alliana.

Paraguay's Attorney General opened three criminal cases against Peña and other former officials related to the crisis. The central bank president also resigned earlier in the week. Peña, an economist who took office in August 2023 and was an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, said he would appear at any impeachment trial and defend himself with arguments and evidence.

Protesters gathered outside Congress for a third day, holding signs that read "Se busca ladrón Santiago Peña" and clashing with police in some areas. Local media showed images of demonstrators near the legislative building as the Senate struggled to reach quorum on votes regarding the resignation. Government deposits in Ueno had risen from zero when Peña took office to more than $800 million, a growth that opponents described as a conflict of interest.

The bank claimed roughly 60 percent of Paraguay's adult population as customers. Its sudden resolution left pensioners and wage earners without access to accounts. The central bank has not yet detailed the timeline or mechanism for restoring deposits. Peña's term was scheduled to run until 2028. His departure leaves Alliana to manage both the political transition and the financial fallout.

The crisis has drawn comparisons to earlier banking failures in the region, but the scale of Ueno's customer base relative to the national population is unusually large. No official estimate of the full deposit total has been released beyond the public-fund figures. The attorney general's cases remain open, and Peña has not been detained.