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Ousted Paraguay president under house arrest after banking crisis leaves 60% of country unable to access accounts

Paraguayan authorities placed ousted president Santiago Peña under house arrest on Friday, shortly after the Senate unanimously removed him from office over a massive banking crisis that locked nearly half of Paraguayans out of their savings.

✦ Extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting•From 4 sources•1 min read•Updated November 7, 2026, 7:20 AM UTC
Key points
  • Santiago Peña was ousted due to a banking crisis which left millions of people unable to access their money.
  • Suspected financial fraud, public money at risk and millions of customers affected: Paraguay is in serious crisis following the sudden collapse of Ueno Bank.
  • Santiago Peña is being investigated about allegations he used his political influence to favour a bank that expanded exponentially under his government and was suspended this week after irregularities.

Santiago Peña’s rightwing administration had authorised Ueno Bank to drastically expand operations before collapse Paraguay’s rightwing president, Santiago Peña, resigned on Thursday after a political and financial crisis collapsed the South American country’s banking system in recent days.

Additional details
  • At the centre of the crisis is Ueno Bank, which in just a few years under Peña went from an obscure digital bank to one of the country’s largest lenders, claiming to have about 60% of Paraguay’s adult population as customers.
  • Peña offered his resignation over the scandal, but lawmakers pressed ahead with impeachment proceedings that stripped him of political immunity.
  • Millions of customers' accounts are frozen, with public pension and health care funds also tied up.

How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →

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Every article behind this summary — 6 articles from 4 outlets

BBC WorldNovember 7, 2026, 7:20 AM UTC → France 24November 7, 2026, 6:18 AM UTC → The Guardian WorldNovember 7, 2026, 1:55 AM UTC → DW NewsNovember 6, 2026, 11:23 PM UTC → DW NewsNovember 6, 2026, 8:23 PM UTC → The Guardian WorldNovember 6, 2026, 6:16 AM UTC →

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