Paraguay’s Santiago Peña resigns after Ueno Bank freezes millions of accounts, outlets report

Paraguay’s president, Santiago Peña, resigned on Thursday, Nov. 5, after a collapse at digital lender Ueno Bank froze deposits for millions of customers and lawmakers moved toward impeachment. The Guardian (Tiago Rogero, South America correspondent; story timed about 1:48 p.m. EST / 10:48 a.m. PT, later modified) wrote that Peña’s right-wing administration had authorised Ueno’s rapid expansion before the crash. The BBC said Peña announced the resignation in a social-media video and that the lower house had voted to pursue an impeachment trial. German broadcaster DW framed the exit as following the withdrawal of support from Congress President Basilio Núñez and Colorado Party leader Horacio Cartes. Asunción newspaper ABC Color reported that Interior Minister Enrique Riera delivered the formal resignation document to the Senate entry desk and quoted Riera saying Peña felt “dolido y triste, pero tranquilo” (Spanish for hurt and sad, but calm).

Ueno sits at the center of the crisis. The Guardian wrote that the bank grew in a few years from an obscure digital lender into one of the country’s largest, claiming about 60% of Paraguay’s adult population as customers, and that the central bank ordered it into resolution over insolvency, freezing deposits of 3 million customers. The BBC likewise put Ueno’s customer claim at about three million, or about 60% of adults, and said the insolvency process froze all operations. DW put the customer figure at about 2.94 million (still roughly 60% of adults) and said Ueno’s app, card payments and transfers stopped while branches closed. On timing, the Guardian dated the central-bank resolution order to “last Monday”; DW dated a resolution or closure order to Tuesday after finding Ueno’s solvency ratio below half the required minimum. This desk reports both clocks and does not choose one.

Public money and pensions deepen the political sting. The Guardian wrote that Ueno came to manage between $800 million and $850 million in deposits from state and pension entities, drawing criticism over conflicts of interest because of Peña’s earlier shareholding ties to Ueno Holding. DW put public-sector deposits at roughly $800 million — about a quarter of total deposits — and cited financial manager Gladys Vera saying Paraguay’s Social Security Institute (IPS) held $355 million at the bank, about 9% of its investments. DW also wrote that authorities detained eight senior executives, including founder Miguel Vázquez and bank president Juan Manuel Gustale, and that prosecutors opened cases against 27 bank officials and associates over breach of trust and related counts; lawyers for several of those detained, DW said, asked for time to review the filings. The BBC noted protests demanding Peña’s resignation after the central bank seized the digital lender.

Peña’s past ownership and loans feature in the impeachment papers. The Guardian and BBC both note that he held shares in the group that ran the bank until early last year / until last year; DW says he sold his shares in Ueno Holding in April 2025 and that lawmakers also cited two loans he received from Ueno. Peña, the Guardian reported, called the shareholding an economist’s “investment,” said he had disposed of all shares, and labeled favoritism claims a “false media campaign.” The BBC wrote that he has rejected suggestions of impropriety. In the resignation video, the Guardian quotes him saying the republic “must always come before any person or circumstance,” that he acted for “stability,” “social peace” and “democratic institutions,” and that he wanted to apologise “if at any point I failed” while wishing for the return of savers’ funds. The BBC quotes overlapping lines: “I want to apologise to the people if at any point I failed” and “It was never my intention to betray the trust you placed in me.”

Colorado Party politics turned against him on Thursday. The Guardian wrote that opposition lawmakers and even Colorado members filed an impeachment motion on Wednesday, and that former president Horacio Cartes — Peña’s former ally — posted a message endorsing impeachment, saying the party would “not stand on the side of the theft of public, private and pensioners’ funds.” DW likewise cited Cartes’s and Núñez’s withdrawal of support and said 35 opposition lawmakers and ruling-party dissidents had submitted impeachment articles in the 80-seat Chamber of Deputies. ABC Color, quoting Riera, said Cartes, Congress President Basilio “Bachi” Núñez, Senate Colorado leader Natalicio Chase and Colorado deputies signaled they would back removal, and that Riera framed the resignation as needed once political backing vanished. On sequencing, the Guardian wrote that about an hour after Peña’s announcement the lower house unanimously approved the impeachment motion, which then heads to the Senate; the BBC wrote that the resignation came after the lower house voted to pursue impeachment. This desk notes that order difference and does not flatten it.

Succession and depositor relief now dominate the near term. The Guardian wrote that Vice-President Pedro Alliana automatically assumes the presidency to complete the constitutional term until August 2028, and that if the Senate approves the impeachment even after resignation, Peña would lose a Senate seat and parliamentary immunity. The BBC said Paraguay now has a newly named Central Bank president and that Congress has approved a process to pay depositors. ABC Color, via Riera, said the government finished naming remaining BCP board members after the board lost quorum and worked to secure payments with a raised advance limit of ₲40 million. DW wrote that hundreds of Ueno and conglomerate employees protested outside the Labor Ministry on Thursday over unpaid wages and severance, and that retirees and depositors had marched through Asunción a day earlier with signs demanding money back. Peña, the Guardian noted, took office in August 2023 with a term running to 2028; DW and the BBC place his 2023 Colorado Party win in the same frame.

This desk read the Guardian, BBC, DW and ABC Color copies saved locally, plus X posts from @NoticiasCaracol, @DFinanciero, @radioconvos899, @LosAndesDiario, @ICNDiario, @QueHayPanama_ and @780AM on X. AP’s Paraguay impeachment URL returned HTTP 403 (unused). Reuters and several English wire URLs also blocked this desk (401/403/404). Times convert from EST/CET/local Asunción reporting to Pacific Time (UTC−8). Customer totals, public-deposit figures and the Monday-versus-Tuesday central-bank clock still differ by outlet.