ASUNCIÓN.- Paraguayan President Santiago Peña resigned on Thursday, November 5, 2026, after the collapse of Ueno Bank — a fast-growing digital lender tied to his government — froze the savings of around 3 million customers and brought protesters into the streets of Asunción for a third day. He announced the decision in a video posted on social media while lawmakers inside the Legislative Palace were debating charges to remove him from office.
"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 said, CNN reported. "Today my priority is only one thing: the peace of mind of the Paraguayans who entrusted their savings to our financial system."
Peña, 47, apologised to the public but stopped short of accepting responsibility for the crisis. "History will judge and give due consideration to the events we are experiencing today," he said, according to CNN. "I apologize to the people if I have failed them at any time." In the same message he said that behind every deposit "are years of hard work, sacrifice and family dreams," the Associated Press reported.
Congress must now decide his fate
Under Paraguay's Constitution, Congress must accept or reject the president's resignation, and Vice President Pedro Alliana is in line to succeed him, the AP reported. Both chambers of Congress were due to meet in a joint session on Thursday afternoon to consider the resignation, CNN reported. If lawmakers accept it, Peña will keep immunity and special protections as a former president; if they remove him from power instead, he will not.
Peña submitted his resignation while lawmakers debated 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. Soon after he announced he would resign, the Chamber of Deputies voted unanimously — 78 votes in favour — to move impeachment proceedings forward, and the Senate was expected to vote later on Thursday, the Buenos Aires Herald reported.
Not all lawmakers were willing to let him leave on his own terms. Senator Yolanda Paredes insisted Congress would not accept the resignation. "This guy, Santiago Peña, needs to be jailed. An arrest warrant must be issued … pretrial detention, straight to jail," she told reporters, according to CNN.
Peña took office in August 2023 for a five-year term, entering as one of the youngest presidents in Paraguayan history at the age of 44. An economist, he served as finance minister from 2015 to 2017 under President Horacio Cartes and as a director of the central bank. He is one of the staunchest allies of US President Donald Trump's administration in the region, having aligned with Washington on immigration and security — see Trump Admits Iran War Cost Republicans the Midterms: 'Largely True'. His Colorado Party, which has ruled Paraguay for most of the past seven decades, holds a majority in both houses of Congress — and backed his removal on Thursday, the Economic Times reported.
From star lender to seized bank
Ueno, which spells its name with a lowercase "u", launched in 2021 and grew from a niche fintech company into one of Paraguay's most visible banks, Reuters reported. It lured customers with generous cash-back offers on groceries, grew to more than 70 locations, sponsored Paraguay's national soccer team and put its name on the country's main stadium. As of June it said it had around 3 million customers — in a country of about 6.5 million people — and administered roughly $850 million in public funds, including money from state institutions and pension-related bodies, Reuters reported.
The bank's rapid rise came with warnings. In June, central bank inspectors found a pattern of risky lending to companies tied to its owners, beyond what the law allows and without enough collateral, ABC Color reported, according to the AP. On a single day in September 2025, nearly $39 million had gone to three such companies. Peña repeatedly brushed off the warnings and, as recently as last month, defended Ueno and the central bank's oversight, dismissing the concerns as a smear campaign, the AP reported.
Regulators investigating Ueno's loans to companies linked to its owners found poorly documented lending and expenses the bank had wrongly counted as assets, the central bank said. 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 central bank seized the lender on Tuesday, November 3, and announced plans to move customers' accounts, along with whatever assets still hold value, to other banks before liquidating what is left.
Ueno's app, cards and transfers went dark and its branches locked their doors, leaving desperate depositors lined up outside with no way to cash out their savings. On Wednesday, a rush to open new accounts elsewhere crashed other banks' mobile apps, fuelling public panic. Officials said they had begun repaying depositors, opening new accounts elsewhere for about 280,000 people who had banked only with Ueno. "The banking system is sound," insisted Pedro Acosta Bernal, appointed interim central bank president on Wednesday after Carlos Carvallo resigned at Peña's request, the AP reported. Carvallo had previously headed Financiera Ueno, the predecessor to Ueno Bank, before Peña appointed him to run the central bank.
Authorities have detained eight senior Ueno executives, including founder Miguel Vázquez and bank president Juan Manuel Gustale. Prosecutors have charged 27 bank officials and business associates with offences including breach of trust and attempted fraud, the AP reported. Prosecutors said on Thursday that Peña himself was among those being investigated over the bank's failure, though he has not been taken in for questioning, Reuters reported.
The ties Peña denies — and the protests that ended him
The opposition has accused Peña of conflict of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-up. Peña has said he was a shareholder in Grupo Vázquez, Ueno's parent conglomerate, until March 2025, when he sold his stake. Ueno says Peña never had a direct relationship with the bank as a shareholder or investor. Peña has repeatedly rejected any suggestion of improper ties and has described the controversy as the political escalation of what began as a regulatory issue, arguing it should be addressed through the courts, Reuters reported.
The crisis spilled into the streets before it reached the palace. On Wednesday, hundreds of retirees, depositors, university students and workers flooded the streets of Asunción, shouting "We want your head, Peña!" and carrying signs demanding his impeachment, calling him "the enemy of savers" and pleading "Give us back our money." Riot police fired pepper spray and rubber pellets to push back the crowds, the AP reported. On Thursday, hundreds of Ueno Bank employees and workers from other Grupo Vázquez companies protested outside the Labour Ministry, demanding severance and unpaid wages with their jobs in limbo and their salaries trapped at the failed bank. Around 7,000 employees have been affected by the closure, the AP reported.
"Santiago Peña and the Colorado Party have stolen all our savings," said Luis Pineda, one of the protesters marching to Congress on Wednesday. "We are fed up with 70 years of plunder."
Peña had approved legislation earlier in the week to help accelerate payments to depositors affected by the collapse, Reuters reported. But the damage to his standing was already done: his own party withdrew its backing on Thursday while Congress debated his removal.
What remains open
Congress has yet to accept or reject the resignation, and the Senate still has to decide whether impeachment proceedings move forward. If the resignation is accepted, Pedro Alliana takes over as president; if lawmakers refuse it and remove Peña instead, he loses the immunity that comes with a negotiated exit — and Senator Paredes has already demanded his arrest.
The money question is unresolved for millions of people. Customers are still unable to access their accounts inside Ueno, and the central bank is working to transfer those accounts to other financial institutions, a process that has strained the banking system and contributed to outages at several banking apps, Reuters reported. Authorities say the crisis is limited to Ueno and does not reflect broader weaknesses in Paraguay's banking system — a country that has won investment-grade credit ratings and built a reputation as one of South America's more stable and reform-friendly economies. Whether that reputation survives the fall of its president remains to be seen.
Peña had been due in Madrid this week for the Ibero-American Summit, but cancelled his trip at the last minute to deal with "priority matters of state", and Paraguay was represented by its foreign minister instead, EFE reported. Even in his absence, his government formally disassociated itself from the summit's headline rejection of "coercion" between states — see Madrid Declaration Adopted at Ibero-American Summit as Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay Break With Anti-Coercion Clause. His resignation leaves Paraguay, hours later, without the president who was meant to sign it.
Read more on The Wire Post: Madrid Declaration Adopted at Ibero-American Summit as Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay Break With Anti-Coercion Clause, Javier Milei Calls Socialism "Fascist" to Pedro Sánchez's Face at Ibero-American Summit in Madrid and Trump Admits Iran War Cost Republicans the Midterms: 'Largely True'.
Sources: Associated Press, November 5, 2026; Reuters, November 5, 2026; CNN, November 5, 2026; Al Jazeera, November 5, 2026; EFE, November 5, 2026; Buenos Aires Herald, November 5, 2026; The Economic Times, November 5, 2026. Cover photo: Santiago Peña in Asunción on June 30, 2026, receiving Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa before the Mercosur summit (public domain, Isaac Castillo / Presidencia de la República del Ecuador via Wikimedia Commons), with a small flag of Paraguay added in the top-right corner. The photo is from June 2026, not from today's resignation.