Paraguay's President Santiago Peña Resigns
Peña announced it in a video on the day the lower house was due to take up an impeachment bid tied to the Ueno Bank collapse.
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña announced his resignation on Thursday in a two-and-a-half-minute video posted to his X account. The lower house was due to debate an impeachment bid against him the same day.
Peña is leaving amid the collapse of Ueno Bank, a digital lender that Paraguay's central bank moved to wind down because its solvency ratio was severely inadequate. He said he was stepping down for the country's "stability" and to protect its institutions, and apologized "if at any moment" he had failed.
His last appeal was for savers. He wants the deposit guarantee fund to do its job and public money protected.
"No office is more important than the stability of the Republic. No person is above Paraguay."
Under Article 234 of the constitution, Vice President Pedro Alliana completes the term. Congress has not said when it will accept the resignation or swear him in.
Peña took office on Aug. 15, 2023, and leaves three years and nearly three months later. Ueno had ties to his political circle. In July, Peña said he had stopped being a shareholder in Ueno Holding and denied any relationship with the bank. In October, senators from the ruling party and the opposition were calling for changes at the central bank, then run by Carlos Carvallo, who had headed Ueno until August 2023. Carvallo left, and Raúl Vera Bogado took over. The government and Congress also agreed to repay savers from the guarantee fund.
The ruling Colorado Party now faces a handover in the middle of a banking crisis, with Alliana set to finish the term.
