Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies approved impeachment charges against President Santiago Peña on Thursday, sending the case to the Senate while Congress weighs his resignation amid a bank crisis affecting millions of depositors.
Interior Minister Enrique Riera delivered Peña’s resignation to Congress, MercoPress reported. Within an hour, the chamber approved the impeachment articles, with every one of the 78 lawmakers attending voting in favor, the outlet said. The charges now go to the Senate, where removal requires a two-thirds majority.
Congress must decide separately whether to accept the resignation. MercoPress reported that acceptance would give Peña a Senate seat for life and parliamentary immunity; removal through impeachment would end that protection. A joint session to consider the resignation ended without a decision after lawmakers lost a quorum, leaving Peña formally in office, MercoPress reported, citing La Nación.
Deputies rejected separate impeachment proceedings against Vice President Pedro Alliana. If Peña leaves office, Alliana would finish the term, which ends Aug. 15, 2028, MercoPress reported.
The political crisis erupted Tuesday when Paraguay’s central bank took control of Ueno Bank, citing insolvency and irregular loans to companies owned by the Vázquez Group, the bank’s owners, according to MercoPress. The Central Bank froze deposits belonging to nearly three million customers. Public and pension funds held hundreds of millions of dollars in those deposits, the outlet reported. Thousands of savers protested in Asunción seeking access to their money and Peña’s resignation.
Former President Horacio Cartes, leader of the governing Colorado Party and a longtime Peña ally, endorsed impeachment, MercoPress reported. Peña said in a social media video, “My greatest wish is that the return of those funds is guaranteed.”
MercoPress described the case as the second impeachment proceeding to reach Paraguay’s Senate for a president since the 1989 return to democracy; the chamber removed Fernando Lugo in 2012. Reuters reported that opposition lawmakers filed the articles earlier in the week. EconoTimes covered the initial impeachment filing against Peña. Congress’s decision on the resignation and the Senate’s impeachment vote remain pending.