Paraguayan President Santiago Peña resigned on Thursday, bringing an abrupt end to his presidency after the collapse of digital lender ueno left millions of customers unable to access their accounts and triggered a political crisis that cost him the support of his own party.
Peña, an economist elected in 2023 and an ally of US President Donald Trump, announced his decision in a recorded video address, saying he was acting with “the stability of our country, social peace, and the need to preserve our democratic institutions in mind”. Vice President Pedro Alliana is set to take office as his replacement.
The crisis began when Paraguay’s central bank intervened in ueno after determining that the bank had breached minimum solvency requirements. The lender, which had grown quickly from a niche fintech player into a mid-tier bank, administered close to $850 million in public funds, including money from state institutions and pension-related bodies, and served around three million customers in a country of 6.5 million people. The central bank put ueno into resolution — its strongest measure short of immediate liquidation — and is working to transfer customer accounts to other banks, a process that has strained the wider banking system.
Pressure on Peña mounted through the week. Opposition lawmakers submitted impeachment articles in the 80-seat lower house, accusing him of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups, and Congress convened an extraordinary session on Thursday to begin the removal process. Earlier that day he lost the backing of his own conservative Colorado Party after Congress President Basilio Nuñez and party leader Horacio Cartes withdrew their support.
At the centre of the accusations is Peña’s past business relationship with Grupo Vázquez, the group that controlled ueno. Peña has said he was a shareholder in the group until March 2025, when he sold his stake; ueno says he never had a direct relationship with the bank as a shareholder or investor. Prosecutors said on Thursday that Peña was among those being investigated over the bank’s failure, though he has not been taken in for questioning. Arrest warrants have been issued for eight ueno executives.
The central bank chief, Carlos Carvallo — who had previously headed the digital lender — resigned on Tuesday after the bank was put into resolution. Peña earlier this week approved legislation to speed payments to depositors affected by the collapse. In his address, he said: “My greatest wish is that the return of those funds be guaranteed, that the deposit guarantee fund fulfill its purpose, and that public funds — as well as the resources that belong to all Paraguayans — be protected.” Ueno has made no public statement on the crisis.
Sources: Reuters — “Paraguay President Peña resigns under mounting pressure from bank collapse” (https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/paraguay-president-pea-resigns-under-mounting-pressure-bank-collapse-2026-11-05/); Reuters — “What is ueno bank and how did it trigger Paraguay’s political crisis?” (https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/what-is-ueno-bank-how-did-it-trigger-paraguays-political-crisis-2026-11-05/). Note: the key facts in this story are reported by Reuters; no second independent source was available at the time of writing.
