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Paraguayan President Santiago Pena resigned on Thursday after the takeover of a bank linked to the US-allied leader blocked almost half the population from accessing their money. The Central Bank takeover of Ueno Bank two days earlier froze the deposits of some three million people, including pensioners, and sparked angry protests across the country. Demonstrations in Asuncion have drawn hundreds of people, some waving placards calling for the right-wing president’s impeachment and others clashing with police, who used tear gas and water cannons on the crowd.”I don’t even want to talk anymore, it’s not worth it because I’ve run out of money,” street vendor Reinaldo Gomez, 48, told AFP.

Opposition lawmakers on Wednesday submitted a request to impeach Pena over the crisis, alleging misconduct and a conflict of interest in dealings with the bank to which he is tied.”I want to apologize to the people if at any point I failed. It was never my intention to betray the trust you placed in me,” the right-wing president said in a video announcing his resignation on X. Pena’s priority, he added, is “the peace of mind of Paraguayans who entrusted their savings to our financial system.”Minutes after the announcement, lawmakers including those from Pena’s ruling party unanimously approved the launch of impeachment proceedings against him while rejecting the same measure against Vice President Pedro Alliana.- ‘Nowhere to live’ -Paraguay’s Central Bank said it took over Ueno due to a severe capital shortfall, in order to “protect depositors and preserve the stability of the financial system.””Ueno approved a loan for us to buy our first house.

But the funds were never disbursed, and now we have nowhere to live,” 26-year-old Nadia Gonzalez, a mother of three, told AFP. Long lines of people trying to withdraw their money from Ueno branches snaked down Asuncion’s streets on Tuesday and Wednesday. Pena owned shares in a group that controlled the bank, but he sold them last year. He had attempted to ease tensions by requesting the resignation of Central Bank president Carlos Carvallo, who consented, and setting a five-day limit for the return of funds.

But neither measure proved sufficient. Congress called an extraordinary session of both chambers on Thursday to decide whether to accept Pena’s resignation or reject it and proceed with the impeachment process. The president’s political immunity is at the crux of the dilemma, constitutional expert Alcibiades Gonzalez Delvalle told AFP.”You can’t just accept the resignation offhand while an impeachment process is underway,” Delvalle said.”If it is accepted, Pena retains his immunity,” he said, adding that if an impeachment trial finds him guilty, “he loses his immunity.”In either case, Alliana will take over as leader of the South American nation, according to Delvalle.

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 20:37:33 GMT