The former president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, remains detained in the Presidential Escort Regiment (REP), under a regime that, according to the court order, allows "free communication", with access to a mobile phone and visits. For his part, his successor Pedro Alliana reshuffles his cabinet amid persistent concern and anger from Ueno Bank clients, who are awaiting the return of their savings. The Church and sectors of agriculture and commerce demanded that refunds be accelerated.

First modification: 11/08/2026 - 19:47

To display this YouTube content, you must allow advertising and audience measurement cookies.

An extension on your browser appears to be blocking the video player from loading. In order to view this content, you must disable it on this site.

After being formally charged on Saturday in the case of the collapse of Ueno Bank, the former president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, served his first night in preventive detention, while citizens and organizations remain in suspense, waiting for the full return of the savings withheld since the intervention of the defunct digital bank.

The Public Prosecutor's Office filed charges against Peña for alleged breach of trust, as instigator, and for administration for personal gain, as author.

By order of the criminal judge of Guarantees of Economic Crimes, Humberto Otazú, the former president must remain held in the Presidential Escort Regiment (REP), in Asunción, the capital of the country, where he was transferred on Friday, after he was dismissed by the Senate after declaring him guilty of "poor performance of duties."

In that sense, the letter signed by Otazú on Saturday established that Peña remains "in safe custody, in free communication and at the disposal of this court."

Read alsoParaguay: Prosecutor's Office charges and requests preventive detention for former President Peña after the collapse of Ueno Bank

In statements made this November 8 to 'Radio Ñanduti', the commander of the REP, Colonel José Dayub, explained that this implies that the dismissed president is allowed to receive visitors and use a mobile phone during his stay in the facility, which does not have cells or rooms with bars.

To display this content from X (Twitter), you must allow audience measurement and advertising cookies.

Dayub noted that Peña is in "a bedroom with a normal, locked door," which is managed by security personnel. Furthermore, there are no other people deprived of liberty in the complex.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the crimes that Peña is accused of, in their aggravated form, can be punished with up to ten years in prison, if found guilty.

While the investigation progresses, the Public Ministry and the Paraguayan Police continue to carry out raids in different parts of the country, at the homes of the accused executives and at facilities belonging to the Vázquez Group, owner of Ueno Bank and of which Peña was a shareholder until March 2025.

According to records, among the seized items there are 9 high-end vehicles valued at 1.4 million dollars, found in the home of Miguel Vázquez, one of the founders of Ueno Bank, as well as a yacht and two private planes.

Documents of various kinds have also been collected so far – the content of which has not been revealed – laptops, servers, cell phones, among other items, while it is expected that the searches will extend to more firms linked to the business group and other properties of the directors of the financial entity, according to local media.

Read alsoAfter Peña's departure in Paraguay, how is the return of funds to Ueno Bank clients continuing?

The Church and other sectors demand to accelerate the restitution of funds

While waiting for the process of returning savings retained to almost three million clients after the collapse of Ueno Bank to progress, concern and anger persists among citizens, who view the financial system and the political class with suspicion.

Although the money returned by the Paraguayan State through the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD) is automatically paid into bank accounts of other banks or opened for this purpose, many savers have preferred to go in person to the branches of half a dozen entities throughout the country, which have opened their doors on Saturday and Sunday in the capital Asunción and in other cities.

The relief of the nearly 1.2 million users who have already received their savings back contrasts with the tension of those who are still waiting. Like Giovanni Catolino, who until Friday night, when he spoke with the AFP agency, had not received the "15,000 or 16,000 dollars" that he had deposited in Ueno Bank and "that's 16 years of lost work."

"My wife and I opened a travel agency in June, with severance pay from my previous company. It took us time and money. I dedicated myself completely to it, obviously," explained the man, who confessed to wanting to "spit in that idiot's face," referring to Peña.

With the suffering of those affected in mind, Bishop Ricardo Valenzuela, in his homily at the traditional Sunday mass in the Basilica of Caacupé, demanded "the urgent return of the money of all the defrauded people" and "real and sincere solutions" for the Paraguayan people, hit by "this monumental fraud."

Although he recognized the "corresponding measures" adopted at the political level, the prelate urged the new government of Pedro Alliana to face the "commendable task and a historic opportunity to heal the nation, once and for all."

And, in addition to returning the funds to the victims, different organizations aim at more difficult and long-term work to rebuild trust in the institutions.

The Chamber of Wholesale and Retail Merchants of Paraguay (Comampar) requested that action be taken "with urgency and transparency" to serve users because "behind every savings, there is effort, work and life projects", at which time it called to protect the conditions for the functioning of the economy and the support of stability "built over years".

Meanwhile, the Rural Association (ARP) demanded "transparency, rigorous investigations and determination of responsibilities" to regain credibility, in addition to "urgently concluding, through clear information and verifiable deadlines, the replacement of the resources of those affected."

Read also “We are with nothing, waiting”: retirees, soccer players, foreigners...the anguish of savers in Paraguay

A sign that the unrest will take time to mitigate is that this Monday, November 9, the four main teaching unions have called for a strike and mobilization to demand that, through a special law, the restitution of the retirement funds deposited in the now defunct Ueno Bank be guaranteed.

For her part, as confirmed by the 'ABC' media, opposition representative Rocío Vallejo also plans to present this Monday a separate complaint to the prosecutor's office against those people who have made use of "privileged information" to withdraw their funds from the banking entity before the intervention of the Central Bank of Paraguay became known last Tuesday.

Alliana seeks to turn the page

After assuming the presidency of Paraguay following the dismissal of Santiago Peña, Pedro Alliana held his first official meetings this weekend at the Presidential House with members of his cabinet, which he is still shaping.

This Sunday, November 8, the now former vice president confirmed the Ministers of Defense, Óscar González, and Justice, Rodrigo Nicora, in their positions.

In an appearance before the media after the meeting, González indicated that the president's order was to prioritize assistance to sectors hit by recent storms in Paraguay, while Nicora was tasked with strengthening surveillance in the country's prisons.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rubén Ramírez, also remains in office, despite the questions that weigh on him for his failed candidacy to preside over the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2025 and for his personal friendship with an associate of Fernando Cerimedo, the advisor to right-wing governments in Latin America who is being investigated in Bolivia for the alleged attempted murder of his ex-partner and for alleged links to drug trafficking.

Through its X account, the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry indicated on Saturday that Ramírez "held conversations with governments of different countries to ratify the continuity of Paraguay's foreign policy lines."

A significant change occurred in the Ministry of the Interior, now headed by Ariel Martínez, a lawyer by profession who already held that position between January and August 2018, during the Government of now former President Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), who heads the ruling Colorado Party.

For his part, Rolando de Barros left the Environment and Sustainable Development portfolio (Mades) to become the head of the Civil Cabinet and general secretary of Alliana. In addition, Juan Carlos Baruja will move from the Ministry of Urban Planning, Housing and Habitat (MUVH) to the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC), replacing Claudia Centurión.

In two other sensitive areas, Economy and Health, local media noted the continuity of Óscar Lovera and Isaías Fretes, respectively, after they participated on Saturday morning in meetings headed by Alliana to analyze the supply of medicines and the situation of clients affected by Ueno Bank.

Read alsoWho is Pedro Alliana, the new president of Paraguay? What measures will you take in the face of the crisis for Ueno Bank?

In another example of the intention to consider the political and financial debacle over, the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry assured in another statement that the South American country has emerged "strengthened from this specific crisis", highlighting that the response "to the financial-institutional crisis demonstrates the capacity of the institutions to apply rules, protect the public interest and channel critical situations within the legal order."

With EFE, AFP and local media

Related keywords

The content you requested does not exist or is no longer available.