Thousands of Brazilians living in Paraguay face the consequences of the end of Ueno Bank's activities

Thousands of Brazilians living in Paraguay also face the consequences of the end of Ueno Bank's activities.

Vinicius Eduardo Nunes left the interior of São Paulo to study Medicine in Cidade do Leste, Paraguay. He opened an account at Ueno Bank to pay his college fees. With the money held in the bank, you are afraid of delaying the payment:

"We feel a little helpless, thinking: what are we going to do? Because it takes a week to pay and we have to get money from somewhere else. So, it's very difficult," he says.

The Central Bank of Paraguay announced on Thursday (5) that it will return customers' money in stages. In total, 16 trillion guaranis will be transferred - around R$14 million. In this first stage, 722 thousand account holders, who had up to 10 million guaranis - equivalent to R$8,800 - should receive their money back. The maximum coverage amount of the Paraguayan Deposit Guarantee Fund is limited per client to 228 million guaranis - approximately R$203 thousand. Deposits will be made into accounts at other banks. Metalworker Blas Marcos Martinez is from Pedro Juan Caballero and said he was confused:

"It will be about R$1,200 that I had. The Chamber of Senators said they will start paying. But I don't understand, they said they will pay in another type of application, which will be in another bank, and they will inform you. But we don't know if it's true. We'll wait."

Vanessa Monteiro is a Medicine student and lives in Cidade do Leste. This Friday (6) afternoon, she looked for an ATM to try to withdraw the money she had in her account:

"We couldn't even get in, it was already sealed, with that paper in front of the bank, it was sealed, we couldn't get in", he says.

Brazilians were the foreigners who requested the most residence in Paraguay in 2026. Currently, there are 270 thousand living there. Those who moved to start a business in the country are also apprehensive. Doctor Thayki Morais has a beauty clinic and his accounts are blocked.

"Many patients are rescheduling, or many patients are holding back on how to pay for the procedures, because the bills are frozen. So, this has affected both the clinic and the patients themselves", he states.

Driver Alberto Garay transports students between Foz do Iguaçu and Cidade do Leste. The only reason you are not running out of money is because many customers are paying in cash:

"Thank God, I had some in cash. It wasn't too difficult. But we're waiting for it to come back to everyone."