Paraguay's Peña Resigns as Ueno Bank Collapse Fuels Impeachment Vote

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña submitted his resignation Thursday, Nov. 5, according to the Chamber of Deputies, as the Ueno Bank crisis swallowed his government. Lawmakers also approved an impeachment request against him with 78 votes and shipped it to the Senate. The same chamber threw out the impeachment bid against Vice President Pedro Alliana, voting 48 against the accusation and 30 in favor, with rejection supporters arguing for preserving the constitutional line of succession. The chamber described the proceedings as formalizing Peña's resignation — not a completed presidential succession.

The charges driving the vote came in the chamber's Nov. 4 account of the filings: lawmakers accused Peña of conflicts of interest involving Ueno Holding and of allowing public pension resources to concentrate at Ueno. Those are lawmakers' allegations, not findings of culpability.

Ueno's downfall moved fast. The Banco Central del Paraguay said Nov. 3 that its board ordered the bank into resolution on Nov. 2 after its solvency ratio fell below half the required minimum. The central bank framed the trouble as specific to Ueno rather than a general condition of Paraguay's financial system. Ueno reported 2.94 million customers in June.

For savers, the money route runs through the deposit-guarantee process. In a Nov. 5 notice, the BCP said its first payment group covers depositors with balances up to 10 million guaraníes who owe Ueno nothing and hold an account at another domestic bank or finance company — those balances get paid in full. The BCP's Nov. 4 plan promised advances of up to 40 minimum monthly wages, minus overdue debts to Ueno, with payments starting within 24 hours and the whole process capped at five business days. Funds go to accounts at other institutions, and the central bank opens accounts for savers who don't have one.

The crisis ripples into crypto access too. The Defiant reported earlier Thursday that some Bybit sellers were asking roughly 13% above the latest official dollar reference for USDT, comparing a 6,942-guaraní offer against the BCP's Nov. 4 reference of 6,144.02 guaraníes per dollar. That was an advertised asking price, not a completed-trade price or a uniform national rate — the same marketplace showed materially different prices for selling USDT. And buying the token means transferring available guaraníes to a seller, which a blocked bank balance can't fund.

The central bank said it will announce subsequent payment groups through its official channels as the process advances. Thursday's notice launched the payment process but gave no total already disbursed.