Protests As Lawmakers Move To Impeach President
Protests As Lawmakers Move To Impeach President 
….Over Bank Collapse Affecting 3 Million Customers….
The fallout forced the resignation of Central Bank President Carlos Carvallo. Arrest warrants were also issued for eight senior executives of the bank.
Paraguay’s Central Bank has taken over Ueno Bank, the country’s largest digital lender, after finding a severe capital shortfall and a collapse in its solvency, triggering protests and a political crisis.
The intervention froze the bank’s mobile app, credit cards and transfer services, locking out about 3 million customers. They are reported to account for nearly 60 per cent of the country’s adult population. Many have been left without immediate access to their savings or pension funds.
The fallout forced the resignation of Central Bank President Carlos Carvallo. Arrest warrants were also issued for eight senior executives of the bank.
Angry residents have taken to the streets in several parts of the country, demanding immediate access to their money, according to The Express Tribune.
Opposition lawmakers are calling for accountability and are investigating possible regulatory conflicts of interest involving top government officials.
Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers have pressed ahead with efforts to impeach President Santiago Pena, whom they blame for the collapse of digital lender ueno, according to Reuters.
Chaos in Paraguay as central bank seizes largest digital lender, freezing accounts of 3 million users. Massive protests have erupted across Paraguay after the country’s Central Bank seized Ueno Bank, its largest digital lender, following a severe capital shortfall and solvency collapse. The intervention completely froze the bank’s mobile app, credit cards, and transfer capabilities, locking out roughly 3 million customers representing nearly 60% of the country’s adult population, and leaving many without immediate access to their savings or pension funds. The economic fallout has triggered a political crisis, forcing the resignation of Central Bank President Carlos Carvallo and prompting arrest warrants for eight high-level bank executives. As angry citizens take to the streets demanding immediate access to their funds, opposition lawmakers are calling for political accountability and investigating potential regulatory conflicts of interest tied to top government officials.
Thirty-five lawmakers submitted impeachment articles in the 80-seat lower house and asked congressional leaders to convene an extraordinary session on Thursday to debate Pena’s future.
They accuse him of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups linked to the handling of the bank’s collapse.
Opposition lawmaker Rocío Vallejo told a congressional session: “Never before has anyone harmed 3 million people in a single day in the Republic of Paraguay, and you achieved it, Mr. President.”
Pena has not publicly addressed the impeachment push, and the presidency did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a social media post on Wednesday, however, he urged political leaders to prioritise the interests of depositors, saying those responsible for irregularities would face justice “without exceptions.”
Pena, a conservative economist who took office in 2023, was a shareholder in Grupo Vazquez, which controls ueno, until March last year.
Ueno grew rapidly from a niche fintech player into a mid-tier bank and now administers close to $850 million in public funds.
Paraguay’s central bank intervened in ueno after determining that it had breached minimum solvency requirements. The move left the lender’s roughly 3 million customers, in a country of 6.5 million people, unable to access their accounts.
The fallout forced the resignation of the central bank chief on Tuesday and led to the detention of eight ueno executives. Prosecutors issued arrest warrants and the executives later turned themselves in, while courts ordered their assets frozen as the investigation widened. Ueno has made no public statement.
The opposition remains short of the two-thirds majority needed to advance impeachment proceedings, but has secured the backing of several dissident members of the ruling Colorado Party.
Meanwhile, several banking apps experienced outages on Wednesday, adding to concerns about confidence in the financial system.
The Association of Banks of Paraguay (Asoban) said lenders were working to absorb a surge of customers moving their accounts from ueno, insisting the banking system “continues to operate normally.”
The crisis has become a serious challenge to Pena’s administration, undermining Paraguay’s reputation as a stable destination for foreign investment, especially from neighbouring Brazil.
