The Paraguayan Senate impeaches President Peña over the banking crisis

Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, on Thursday, supported an American proposal to declare the presidency vacant in her country and hold elections next year.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate returned from exile late last month, about a year after the United States detained President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a special military operation in Caracas.

Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's former deputy, assumed the position of acting president under the supervision of Washington.

Calls are growing for democratic elections, which Machado supports.

In a statement addressed to the Ibero-Latin American Summit held in Madrid, Machado expressed her support for a plan drawn up by the US State Department that aims to renew the Supreme Court in Venezuela, before the end of 2026, and to form a new National Electoral Council immediately after that.

The plan requires Rodriguez to later declare the presidency vacant, and to call elections within six months of the announcement.

“Given the reality that our country has been experiencing for a long time, we support this plan as a reasonable way forward toward the full restoration of the constitutional order in Venezuela,” Machado said.

Rodriguez has repeatedly pledged to organize elections, but has not announced a date.

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña resigned on Thursday, days after the collapse of one of the country's central banks, according to what was reported by the Associated Press.

The collapse led to Ueno Bank being placed under receivership.

Peña announced his resignation, in a video clip he posted on the VX platform, explaining that he was stepping down from his position in order to preserve the stability of the country and its democratic institutions.

He said: “I have taken the decision to submit my resignation from the position of President of the Republic, and I am taking this step out of concern for the stability of our country, social peace, and the necessity of preserving our democratic institutions.”

Despite offering an apology, Peña did not acknowledge that he was responsible for the banking crisis, as he said: “I would also like to apologize to the people if I had failed them at any stage, as I never had any intention of betraying the trust they placed in me.”

He stressed that his priority is to ensure that depositors recover their savings, noting that “behind every deposit are years of hard work, sacrifices, and families’ dreams.”

Vote for impeachment

On Thursday, Paraguay's House of Representatives voted unanimously in favor of impeaching President Santiago Peña, just minutes after he announced his resignation.

This decision came in the wake of the collapse of the prominent digital bank linked to his government, freezing the savings of millions of people, bringing protesters to the streets, and turning his party - which has long dominated the political scene - against him.

The vote, which received the support of 78 members against “zero” opposition, represented a categorical rejection of President Peña by legislators belonging to his “Colorado” party. They joined the opposition to support his removal, after three days of demonstrations that rocked the capital, Asunción.

Under this vote, the charges are referred to the Senate, which requires a two-thirds majority to convict and formally remove the president from office.

This isolation step comes at a time when thousands continue their protests, for the third day in a row, demanding the restoration of their savings, wages, and pensions that were lost as a result of the collapse of the “Ueno Bank.”

Ueno Bank, one of the most prominent digital lending institutions, has transformed from an unknown financing company into a household name in Paraguay, in less than five years, after attracting more than 60 percent of the country's adults as clients.

The political turmoil and promises of relief have raised a larger, still unanswered question: How did a bank linked to the president, which until last year owned a stake in the holding company that owns Ueno Bank, manage to expand so quickly and gain such importance, despite repeated warnings about its questionable lending practices?

For many Paraguayans, the answer lies in the worrying rapprochement between Peña's long-ruling Colorado party, regulators, and the country's economic elite, which has persisted even as stable economic management and rapid growth have made Paraguay the focus of international investors over the past few years.

Luis Pineda, one of the demonstrators who marched to the Congress building, said yesterday, Wednesday: “Santiago Peña and the (Colorado) Party stole all our savings. “We are tired of 70 years of plunder.”