Impeachment Trial Proceeds Without President
ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay – Paraguayan President Santiago Peña failed to appear for his scheduled impeachment trial in the Senate on Friday, November 6, 2026, despite earlier pledges to defend himself in person. Senators voted 39-3 to reject the President’s request for a 72-hour delay to review approximately 300 pages of evidence and accusations filed against him. When neither the President nor his legal counsel arrived at the designated time, the Senate moved forward with the proceedings, signaling a critical escalation in the country’s ongoing political crisis.
The Newsday reported that Peña’s legal team, Ricardo Preda and Adolfo Ferreiro, arrived after the session had commenced to argue that the President had been denied due process. They maintained that the Senate should have accepted his resignation, submitted Thursday, rather than proceeding with an impeachment trial that could strip him of future parliamentary immunity. Under the Paraguayan Constitution, former presidents are granted a lifetime Senate seat and legal immunity unless they are convicted through an impeachment process.
The Ueno Bank Collapse and Political Fallout
The impeachment trial follows the dramatic collapse of Ueno Bank, which was seized by regulators before dawn on Tuesday. The lender, which had grown into Paraguay’s fifth-largest bank by deposits in a few years, is accused of benefiting from the redirection of hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds under the guidance of the President’s administration. Prosecutors have since opened three criminal investigations into the collapse, targeting the President, Vice President Pedro Alliana, and various officials from the central bank and state pension funds, according to reporting by the KDH News.
The fallout has triggered a rapid unraveling of the Peña administration. Interior Minister Enrique Riera resigned late Thursday, followed on Friday by Chief of Staff Javier Giménez and legal adviser Roberto Moreno. The political crisis reached a boiling point as protesters took to the streets of Asunción, clashing with police while demanding the recovery of their frozen savings and accountability for what many citizens describe as a betrayal of public trust.
A Shift in Political Alliances
Peña’s political base, once anchored by the conservative Colorado Party and his mentor, former President Horacio Cartes, has largely abandoned him. Analysts note that Peña attempted to build an independent power base using Ueno Bank as a financial engine to court regional governors, a move that alienated his patron. With the bank’s failure, that leverage evaporated. The lower house of Congress voted 78-0 to impeach, and the Senate is now tasked with determining the President’s future as demonstrators continue to demand his imprisonment.