Paraguayan President Santiago Peña announced his resignation Thursday after the collapse of a major digital bank tied to his government triggered widespread protests, froze millions of people's savings and cost him the support of his own party.
The crisis at Ueno Bank turned Peña's long-ruling Colorado Party against him, a stunning reversal for the former International Monetary Fund economist who had enjoyed the backing of the country's most powerful politicians and was welcomed in Washington just weeks ago as a key ally of the Trump administration.
Minutes after Peña's announcement, the lower house voted 78-0 to impeach him, sending the charges to the Senate. Congressional leaders were expected to accept his resignation later Thursday, clearing the way for Vice President Pedro Alliana to be sworn in without waiting for a Senate trial.
Opposition senators were still demanding a trial, arguing that allowing Peña to resign would preserve his eligibility to become a senator for life, with legal protections that could prevent his prosecution.
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As lawmakers debated his impeachment, Peña said in a video posted to X that he was stepping down in the interest of "the stability of our country, social peace and the need to preserve our democratic institutions."
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Ueno Bank, which exploded from an obscure finance company to a household name in less than five years, claimed more than 60% of Paraguay's adults as customers. Many Paraguayans are left asking how a bank linked to the president could grow so rapidly in size and importance despite repeated warnings about its lending practices.
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Even as retirees' savings and other public money piled up at Ueno, worries were escalating inside the central bank. In June, its inspectors found a pattern of risky lending to insiders, reported ABC Color, a leading Paraguayan newspaper. Ueno had extended large sums to companies tied to its owners, beyond what the law allows and without enough collateral to cover the debts if they went bad.
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But on Monday, it all came crashing down. Regulators investigating Ueno's loans to companies linked to its owners found poorly documented lending, the central bank said, as well as expenses the bank had wrongly counted as assets.
Once the books were corrected, Ueno's capital, the cushion banks must keep to absorb losses, fell to less than half the legal minimum. The central bank announced the lender's seizure Tuesday, beginning a process to transfer deposits and recoverable assets to other banks before liquidating what remained.
Ueno's app, cards and transfers went dark and its branches locked their doors, leaving desperate depositors lined up outside. On Wednesday, a rush to open new accounts elsewhere crashed other banks' mobile apps, fueling public panic.
There’s something about this that I don’t really understand well, and I say it in hopes someone with more knowledge can explain: it was said to me he resigned, and that the Congress refused his...
There’s something about this that I don’t really understand well, and I say it in hopes someone with more knowledge can explain: it was said to me he resigned, and that the Congress refused his resignation, bc if he resigned he would retain certain rights and privileges (including immunity, perhaps?) that he would suffer without if impeached, hence the Congress refused his resignation and instead pursued impeachment.
"You can't impeach me, I resign" doesn't have the same ring to it
From the article:
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There’s something about this that I don’t really understand well, and I say it in hopes someone with more knowledge can explain: it was said to me he resigned, and that the Congress refused his resignation, bc if he resigned he would retain certain rights and privileges (including immunity, perhaps?) that he would suffer without if impeached, hence the Congress refused his resignation and instead pursued impeachment.