Paraguay’s President Santiago Pena impeached from office

• Paraguayan authorities placed ousted President Santiago Pena Palacios under house arrest, shortly after the Senate unanimously removed him from office over a massive banking crisis on November 7.

• All 44 senators present voted to remove Pena for misconduct in office, making him the second Paraguayan president ousted by impeachment since the end of Alfredo Stroessner’s 35-year dictatorship in 1989. 

• Vice President Pedro Alliana was sworn in as President to serve out the term, which ends in August 2028.

• Alliana, 52, is a former Governor of the southern province of Neembucu and a former speaker of the lower house.

• The developments were triggered by the collapse of a digital bank Ueno.

What led to the downfall of Santiago Pena Palacios?

• Santiago Pena Palacios took power in 2023, becoming the fresh young face of the conservative Colorado Party, which has ruled for nearly eight decades.

• He had a colourful career, going from an IMF economist to finance minister to the youngest-ever President of the South American nation.

• His downfall came following the takeover of Ueno Bank by Paraguay’s central bank, which cited severe capital shortfalls.

• The bank had grown rapidly since launching in 2021. But questions had emerged over Ueno’s lending practices and its ties to Paraguay’s political and financial elite.

• Regulators seized Ueno Bank on November 3, cutting nearly three million customers off from their savings and bank cards and setting off a political crisis.

• Overnight, Ueno customers could no longer withdraw cash, access their savings or use their cards to buy anything. It provoked angry protests across the country.

• Pena owned shares in a group that controlled the bank, but he sold them in 2025.

• Lawmakers who filed a motion to impeach the President accused him of a conflict of interest and of favoring Ueno through regulatory decisions.

• Lawmakers also accused him of letting the state pension fund deposit $355 million at the bank, beyond legal limits.

• Pena has denied wrongdoing.

• By November 5, Pena offered to resign as his conservative Colorado party turned on him, led by former President Horacio Cartes, the party chief and Pena’s longtime mentor.

• Pena’s removal bars him from the lifetime Senate seat granted to elected former presidents under Paraguay's Constitution, denying him the parliamentary immunity that would accompany it. 

Key facts of Paraguay:

• Paraguay is a landlocked country between Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia with an estimated population of over 7 million people.

• The capital, Asuncion, on the banks of the Paraguay River, is home to the grand Government Palace.

• Paraguay’s highly centralised government was fundamentally changed by the 1992 constitution, which provides for a division of powers. 

• The President, popularly elected for a five-year term, appoints a Cabinet. 

• The bicameral Congress consists of an 80-member Chamber of Deputies and a 45-member Senate, elected concurrently with the President through a proportional representation system. 

• Paraguay's highest court is the Supreme Court. The Senate and the president select its nine members on the basis of recommendations from a constitutionally created Magistrates Council.