Asunción (Paraguay) (AFP) - After 29 years as a volunteer firefighter, Oscar Acuña faces an emergency for which he received no training: the funds from all the barracks in Paraguay were trapped in Ueno, the bank whose collapse plunged the country into a crisis and brought down President Santiago Peña.

First modification: 09/11/2026 - 16:20Last modification: 09/11/2026 - 16:23

Paraguay's volunteer firefighters had some 2,000 million guaraníes (about $320,000) deposited in Ueno when the Central Bank ordered their intervention on November 3 due to serious solvency problems.

"Just as many savers of our institution were scammed, we ourselves as an institution were scammed and today we are suffering the consequences," Acuña, commander of the Sixth Volunteer Fire Company, in Mariano Roque Alonso, about 16 km from Asunción, tells AFP with glassy eyes.

There, firefighters must choose which emergencies to attend due to lack of resources and pray that many accidents or fires do not occur.

About 70% of its funds came from a national fundraiser held in October. The frozen accounts compromise the activity of 140 headquarters of the institution, which brings together some 6,500 volunteers.

"Once a year we go out to the streets to ask for collaboration from citizens to be able to finance our operations. We deposited all of our proceeds in that bank because we trusted it," laments Acuña, 45 years old.

Choose who to help

It's Sunday and the barracks are unusually quiet. Families usually come to take pictures with the trucks or celebrate birthdays. This time, between hanging uniforms and boxes of donations still unsorted, silence dominates.

"Morale is low and you can feel it," says the commander.

The company's 68 members stand guard 24 hours a day and respond to fires, traffic and domestic accidents, and animal rescues. But now they must select the calls.

"A lady recently came to ask for help with a problem she has with her pet but we told her that this time we failed her. We have to prioritize now and choose which cases to attend to and which not to attend," explains Acuña, while arranging equipment in the warehouse.

The most pressing problem is fuel. It not only moves trucks: it also powers generators, pumps and other essential machines during an intervention.

"Practically we will not be able to move once the heart (which is the fuel) begins to fail due to lack of resources," warns Acuña, who says he has the barracks box empty.

The president of the Volunteer Fire Department of Paraguay, Lorena Canan, estimates that an intervention can cost from 500,000 guaraníes (about 80 dollars) for a motorcycle accident to 350 million (about 52,000 dollars) in a large fire.

Other barracks also reduce their response capacity. In Itá, south of Asunción, firefighters limited the number of emergency vehicles on duty to one.

"There will come a time when we will have to pay from our own pockets, but that is difficult because we were also affected in our own personal finances," says Ángel Núñez, a 50-year-old volunteer firefighter.

Uncertainty

Due to the fall of Ueno, nearly three million users were suddenly left without access to accounts, cards and applications.

The scandal sparked mass protests and precipitated the dismissal of Peña, who was investigated for alleged irregularities linked to the bank.

The Central Bank began restitution of deposits through a guarantee fund on Thursday and by Saturday it had returned about 160 million dollars to about 1.2 million savers.

However, the measure does not solve the problem of firefighters: the guarantee fund covers up to $36,000 per account, barely 11% of the institution's funds.

To collect their money, the firefighters will have to wait for an uncertain time for the process of liquidation of Ueno's assets by the Central Bank, without certainty that what they obtained will be enough to restore their funds.

Meanwhile, Acuña's eyes water and his voice breaks when he talks about those waiting for an ambulance or a fire truck: "It hurts me a lot because I am the one who has to give the answer, not only to the volunteers but to the people," he says.

© 2026 AFP

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