Paraguay's President Santiago Peña has announced his resignation amid the scandal surrounding Ueno Bank. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
"Our republic must always be above any person or circumstance... I have decided to resign from the post of president of the country. I made this decision in order to preserve the stability of the country and calm in society," he said in a video address published on the social network X.
The president also apologized for failing to justify the people's trust at certain moments. "The most important thing is that the return of citizens' money is guaranteed," Peña added.
Bank depositors took to the streets demanding the return of their money and that those responsible for the situation with the bank be held accountable. The number of affected depositors is approximately 3 million people (Paraguay's population is 7 million). They also demanded the president's resignation.
Protests escalated into clashes with police. "Clashes are taking place between protesters and police near the Congress building... The protesters attempted to break through the police cordon near the National Congress," local media report.
Meanwhile, the country's congress was considering the issue of the president's resignation. He had announced his decision earlier on Thursday. However, parliament deputies failed to gather the necessary quorum to make a decision.
Paraguay's Central Bank has begun the procedure to resolve the situation with Ueno Bank. The reason was that the bank's solvency ratio fell below 50% of the minimum required level.
In addition, the opposition filed a request to open a criminal case against the president on charges of illicit enrichment, abuse of influence and misuse of funds.
Ueno Bank was part of a business group in which President Peña was a shareholder until last year.