Paraguay Ex-President Peña Held in Pretrial Detention
A Paraguayan judge has ordered former president Santiago Peña into pretrial detention at a military facility while prosecutors investigate his alleged ties to the collapsed digital lender Ueno, whose failure has left millions of customers unable to access their accounts. Judge Humberto Otazú issued the order on Saturday, November 7, a day after Peña was removed from office by impeachment and placed under house arrest.
Peña, who appeared before the Attorney General’s Office earlier on Saturday, faces charges of breach of trust and administration for personal gain. Prosecutors allege that he used his position as president to influence decisions by government agencies and state-owned entities to keep large amounts of public money deposited with Ueno, despite having financial ties to the lender. His lawyer, Ricardo Preda, told journalists that Peña is pleading not guilty. Each of the two charges could carry up to 10 years in prison, prosecutor Nancy Salomón said.
From impeachment to detention in 24 hours
Peña’s fall was swift. On Thursday, November 5, he tried to resign, but Congress refused to accept it. The lower house had already voted 78-0 to impeach him, and on Friday the Senate voted unanimously — all 44 senators present — to remove him from office for misconduct, making him the second Paraguayan president ousted by impeachment since the end of General Alfredo Stroessner’s 35-year dictatorship in 1989. Minutes after his removal, prosecutors placed him under house arrest, and Vice President Pedro Alliana was sworn in as president to serve out the term through August 2028.
The judge said detention was necessary to ensure Peña remained in the country while the case proceeded. Prosecutor Silvia Margarita González Vester told reporters that Peña would be questioned over alleged breach of trust, influence peddling and misappropriation of funds.
The Ueno Bank collapse
The crisis began when Paraguay’s central bank intervened in Ueno Bank on November 3 after determining that the institution had failed to meet minimum solvency requirements. The digital bank had provided accounts for nearly half of Paraguay’s population — about three million customers — who were suddenly locked out of their savings, including pensioners. The impeachment charges alleged that Peña had conflicts of interest, manipulated regulatory oversight, diverted pension funds and participated in an institutional cover-up involving the central bank. The attorney general has opened three criminal cases over the crisis, and 27 people have been charged, including former central bank chief Carlos Carvallo, whom Peña had installed in the post.
What happens next
Peña will remain detained at the military facility while prosecutors build their case, and protests have been held outside his home in Asunción as the crisis deepens. Alliana, a 52-year-old conservative from the ruling Colorado Party, now leads a country facing a banking crisis that has prompted regulators to try to contain risks to the wider financial system. The case is being watched across Latin America as a test of whether a former head of state can be held to account over a financial collapsethat hit ordinary savers hardest. Read our earlier coverage of the impeachment here: Paraguay President Santiago Peña impeached, placed under house arrest and the run-up to the vote here: Paraguay: President’s resignation put on hold, impeachment from Friday.
Sources: Rappler, Associated Press, Reuters, The Statesman (7–8 November 2026).