Peña's political career ended in his late 40s amid suspicions of corruption and power struggles.
(Mexico City = Yonhap News) Correspondent Song Gwang-ho = President Santiago Peña (48) of Paraguay, whose political career virtually ended with his dismissal on the 6th (local time), is one of the key politicians of South America's Blue Tide (right-wing wave of power).
He was elected president in April 2023, before the launch of Donald Trump's second administration, and took office in August of that year, serving as the driving force behind the Blue Tide. Four months after he took office, Argentina's President Javier Millay took over the baton.
He was not a right-wing politician from the beginning. He was an economist who worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and was a member of the opposition party and center-left Orthodox Radical Liberal Party (PLRA). He began to walk the right-wing path when former President Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), head of the faction of the ruling party that ruled Paraguay for about 70 years, scouted him for a passport in 2016.
Cartes was critical by selecting him as finance minister. With the behind-the-scenes support of Cartes, he became the Colorado Party's presidential candidate and was elected president in 2023. It was a rapid promotion achieved seven years after changing party affiliation.
He was once criticized as a 'puppet of Cartesian', but after becoming president, he began to take an independent path. The charismatic man made numerous visits overseas, meeting diplomatic leaders and attracting investors.
In particular, as Trump's second term began, he showed a strong right-wing stance and attracted attention in Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump praised him at the Washington Summit in February, calling him a “young and handsome friend.”
According to Spanish-language media outlet Infoba, as Peña strengthened his power with the support of the United States, he began to gradually fall out with Cartes, the leader of the party.
In particular, when the Colorado Party lost in the major cities of Asunción and Ciudad del Este in the October local elections, he is said to have criticized the party leader, Cartes. It is said that Peña asked Cartes to step down from the party in order to install his confidants, and Cartes countered by mentioning the Ueno Bank incident.
In a situation where the ruling Colorado Party was heading for division, the Ueno Bank incident finally broke out a month after the local elections, and President Peña was dismissed from office four days later. The final blow was a sentence posted by Cartes on X (old Twitter).
“As leaders of the Colorado Party, we will not stand on the side of public funds, private funds, and retirees being robbed of their money. We must put the people and the values that the Colorado Party has upheld first.”
When Cartes made this declaration, ruling party members joined in the impeachment bill, which initially only opposition members supported. President Peña was not only removed from office with the overwhelming approval of members of both the Senate and House of Representatives, but was also reduced to a suspect as the police executed an arrest warrant.
