Paraguay's Pedro Alliana sworn in as president after Santiago Peña is impeached
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Pedro Alliana became Paraguay's 53rd president after the Senate removed Santiago Peña amid the Ueno Bank collapse. Prosecutors then ordered Peña placed under house arrest.
Pedro Alliana, 52, was sworn in on Friday as Paraguay's 53rd president, after a banking scandal led to the impeachment of Santiago Peña. Alliana had been Peña's vice president since the start of his term in 2023.
Forty-four senators in the 45-member chamber voted to remove Peña, and one abstained. A day earlier, the Chamber of Deputies had voted 78 to zero to impeach him. It declined to open impeachment hearings against Alliana. After the removal, prosecutors ordered Peña placed under house arrest on suspicion of breach of trust and other crimes. An arrest warrant was also issued for Carlos Carvallo, the former central bank head, who resigned earlier in the week.
The crisis began on Tuesday, when the central bank said Ueno Bank had fallen below legal solvency standards and seized it. Millions of clients lost access to accounts and pension payments. Ueno had about three million members, nearly two-thirds of Paraguay's adults, and about $355m in state pension funds was invested in it.
Questions have arisen over whether the bank was properly regulated and whether Peña had conflicts of interest. He was identified as a shareholder of Ueno's parent company in 2023 and said he sold his shares in early 2025. Congress rejected his offer to resign. At least 27 people face criminal charges, including lead shareholder Miguel Vazquez. Peña signalled he would cooperate and sent lawyers to the hearing in his place.
