Paraguay's President Santiago Peña resigned on Thursday, 5 November 2026, after the collapse of Ueno, a digital bank used by nearly half the country, froze millions of people's savings — and minutes after he announced his decision, the lower house of Congress voted unanimously, 78–0, to impeach him anyway.
Peña, who took office in August 2023, announced his resignation in a recorded video message posted on social media, while lawmakers inside the Legislative Palace in Asunción were already debating charges against him. His decision caps three days of street protests and a banking crisis that has left roughly 3 million customers — in a country of about 6.5 million people — unable to access their accounts.
"I have made the decision to submit my resignation from the Presidency of the Republic. I do so with the stability of our country, social peace, and the need to preserve our public institutions in mind."
Peña added that his priority was "the peace of mind of the Paraguayans who entrusted their savings to our financial system", and apologised to the public "if I have failed them at any time", according to CNN. He did not admit any wrongdoing in connection with the bank's collapse.
A resignation — and an impeachment minutes later
Peña submitted his resignation while lawmakers were debating charges brought by 35 opposition lawmakers and ruling-party dissidents, who accused him of "serious and systematic dereliction of duty" in connection with his dealings with the bank, CNN reported. The charges proposed removing him from office.
Soon after he announced he would resign, Paraguay's Chamber of Deputies voted unanimously to trigger impeachment proceedings. The Associated Press reported that the 78–0 vote marked a stunning repudiation of Peña by lawmakers from his own long-ruling Colorado Party, who joined the opposition after three days of demonstrations rocked the capital, Asunción.
The vote sends the charges to the Senate, where a two-thirds majority — 30 of the 45 senators, according to the Buenos Aires Herald — is required to convict the president and formally remove him from office. The Senate was expected to vote later on Thursday.
The sequence leaves an unusual constitutional question open. Under Paraguay's Constitution, Congress must accept or reject the president's resignation. If lawmakers accept it, Peña would keep immunity and special protections; if they remove him from power through impeachment, he would not, CNN reported. Some lawmakers said they would not accept the resignation at all: Senator Yolanda Paredes told reporters that Peña "needs to be jailed", and Senator Esperanza Martínez filed a formal motion to prevent him from fleeing the country, according to the Buenos Aires Herald.
Congress was expected to formally consider the resignation at 5 p.m. local time on Thursday, clearing the way for Vice President Pedro Alliana to be sworn in as president an hour later, the Associated Press reported. Alliana would serve out Peña's term through August 2028, with lawmakers expected to choose a new vice president. Deputies had already cleared that path by voting 48–30 to reject an impeachment motion against Alliana himself.
How the Ueno scandal unfolded
Ueno grew in less than five years from a niche fintech player into Paraguay's largest digital bank, claiming more than 60% of the country's adults as customers and administering close to $850 million in public funds, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. That money included funds from state institutions and pension-related bodies — among them the Social Security Institute (IPS), which manages the pensions of most of the country's workers, and the operators of Paraguay's giant hydroelectric dams.
On Tuesday, 3 November, Paraguay's central bank intervened and took control of the lender after determining that it had breached minimum solvency requirements. CNN reported that the central bank found Ueno's solvency ratio had fallen below 50% of the required minimum, "as a result of adjustments made to its financial statements during the regularization process". Regulators found poorly documented lending to companies linked to the bank's owners, as well as expenses wrongly counted as assets, according to the Associated Press. Once the books were corrected, Ueno's capital — the cushion banks must keep to absorb losses — had fallen to less than half the legal minimum.
The intervention froze the savings of thousands of customers. Ueno's app, cards and transfers went dark and its branches locked their doors, leaving depositors queuing outside with no way to cash out, the Associated Press reported. The central bank said it was working to transfer Ueno accounts to other financial institutions, a process that created strains across the banking system and contributed to outages at several banking apps, according to Reuters.
The fallout moved fast. The central bank's chief, Carlos Carvallo — who had previously headed the digital lender — resigned on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Prosecutors issued arrest warrants for eight Ueno executives, who later turned themselves in, and 26 people have been charged with alleged breach of trust, including all eight members of the bank's board, according to the Buenos Aires Herald. Among those detained were the bank's founder, Miguel Vázquez, and bank president Juan Manuel Gustale, the Associated Press reported. On Wednesday night, police used pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of protesters in Asunción demanding the return of their deposits, the Buenos Aires Herald reported. Earlier in the week, Peña approved legislation to help accelerate payments to depositors, according to Reuters. Ueno itself has made no public statement, Al Jazeera reported.
Why this matters beyond Paraguay. The country has been trying to position itself as a regional financial hub, capitalising on the investment-grade status it attained in recent years after approval from two of the world's leading rating agencies, CNN reported. The collapse of a bank holding the savings of nearly half the population — and a large share of public money — now tests both that ambition and the credibility of its regulators.
The charges against Peña
Peña, an economist, entered office as one of the youngest presidents in Paraguayan history at the age of 44. He served as finance minister from 2015 to 2017 and as a director of the central bank, and he is one of the staunchest allies of US President Donald Trump's administration, according to CNN. His links to Ueno run through Grupo Vázquez, the group that owned the bank: Reuters reported that Peña has said he was a Grupo Vázquez shareholder until March 2025, when he sold his stake, while Ueno says he never had a direct relationship with the bank as a shareholder or investor. Opposition lawmakers have accused him of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-up.
What is alleged, not established. The charges against Peña are accusations brought by lawmakers and under investigation by prosecutors — they are not findings of guilt. Peña has not admitted wrongdoing, and prosecutors said on Thursday that he was among those being investigated over the bank's failure but had not been taken in for questioning, Reuters reported. Al Jazeera's Latin America editor, Lucia Newman, summarised the accusation as negligence "at the very least" and complicity in covering up the fact that the bank was insolvent.
Timeline: how three days brought down a president
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Monday 2 Nov | Central bank detects serious solvency problems at Ueno; customers begin finding accounts blocked. |
| Tuesday 3 Nov | Central bank intervenes and takes control of Ueno; chief Carlos Carvallo resigns; arrest warrants issued for eight Ueno executives. |
| Wednesday 4 Nov | Protests in Asunción; police use pepper spray and rubber bullets on demonstrators demanding deposits back; impeachment request filed in the lower house. |
| Thursday 5 Nov | Peña announces his resignation in a video message; Chamber of Deputies votes 78–0 to impeach him; Congress to consider the resignation and swear in Vice President Pedro Alliana. |
What happens next
Three questions will decide how this ends. First, whether Congress formally accepts Peña's resignation — and whether the Senate proceeds with the impeachment trial anyway, which would determine whether he keeps the immunity that comes with an accepted resignation. Second, whether Vice President Pedro Alliana is sworn in smoothly and can steady a government whose ruling party has just voted out its own president. Third, and most urgent for ordinary Paraguayans, whether depositors get their money back: the central bank is transferring Ueno accounts to other banks, and legislation Peña approved this week is meant to accelerate payments, but the process has already strained the wider banking system.
Frequently asked questions
What do we know for certain?
That Santiago Peña announced his resignation on Thursday, 5 November 2026; that the Chamber of Deputies voted 78–0 to impeach him minutes later; that the central bank intervened in Ueno on Tuesday after finding its solvency ratio below half the required minimum; and that roughly 3 million customers cannot currently access their accounts. Each of these facts is reported by at least two of the sources cited below.
What don't we know yet?
Whether Congress has formally accepted the resignation, whether Pedro Alliana has been sworn in, and whether the Senate will proceed with the impeachment trial. Those steps were scheduled for Thursday evening local time and were not yet confirmed in the sources consulted at publication. We also do not yet know how much depositors will recover, or when.
What happens to Ueno customers' money?
The central bank is moving Ueno accounts to other financial institutions and working through the bank's remaining assets, and legislation approved this week aims to speed payments to depositors. How much each customer recovers, and how quickly, is not yet known.
Key takeaways
- Paraguay's President Santiago Peña resigned on Thursday, 5 November 2026, as the collapse of digital bank Ueno froze the accounts of roughly 3 million people.
- Minutes after his announcement, the Chamber of Deputies voted 78–0 to impeach him — with lawmakers from his own Colorado Party joining the opposition.
- The charges now go to the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is needed to convict; Congress must also formally accept or reject the resignation.
- Vice President Pedro Alliana is expected to be sworn in and serve out the term through August 2028.
- The accusations against Peña — conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds, covering up insolvency — remain unproven; prosecutors are investigating but have not questioned him.
What to watch next: the Senate's vote on whether the impeachment trial proceeds, the formal acceptance of Peña's resignation and Alliana's swearing-in, and the central bank's next update on transferring Ueno accounts and repaying depositors. This is a developing story and will be updated as those steps are confirmed.
