Paraguay President Santiago Peña Resigns After Bank Collapse

<blockquote><b>Paraguay's President Santiago Peña has announced his resignation following a political crisis sparked by the collapse of a bank linked to him.</b><br><br><b>&quot;I want to apologise to the people if at any point I failed</b>,&quot; he said in a video message on social media. <b>&quot;It was never my intention to betray the trust you placed in me.</b>&quot;<br><br>The crisis erupted after Ueno Bank entered an insolvency process, which froze all operations. Lawmakers accused Peña, who was a shareholder until last year in the company that owned the bank, of conflicts of interest and misconduct.<br><br>Peña rejected suggestions of impropriety. His resignation came as Paraguay's lower house of congress voted in favour of pursuing an impeachment trial.<br><br>Photos taken near Paraguay's Congress building on Thursday show police officers clashing with protesters demanding Peña be removed from office.<br><br>Paraguay's congress must approve the resignation of a president. But a special session convened on Thursday to address his resignation was adjourned in favour of continuing with the impeachment process.<br><br>Congress has scheduled a special session for Friday, when Peña is expected to present his defence, according to Reuters news agency.<br><br>In a post on X, Peña confirmed he would appear for Senate impeachment proceedings, adding that he would do so to &quot;exercise my right to a defence&quot;.<br><br>He wrote: &quot;I will provide the information requested of me. Citizens deserve to know the truth, without cover-ups and without anyone being above the law.&quot;<br><br><b>Peña earlier said his resignation was to protect stability, social peace and democratic institutions</b>.<br><br>Ueno Bank has said it has about three million customers, equivalent to about 60% of Paraguay's adult population.<br><br>It held pensions and some other public funds and, after its collapse earlier this week, millions could not access their accounts.<br><br>The central bank seized the digital lender, and people took to the streets protesting and demanding Peña's resignation.<br><br>A new president of the Central Bank of Paraguay has been appointed and Congress has approved a process to pay depositors.<br><br>Peña won election in 2023 representing Paraguay's ruling conservative Colorado Party, beating a centre-left challenger.<br><br>The Colorado party dropped impeachment proceedings against Vice President Pedro Alliana, who is next in line for the presidency after Peña</blockquote><a rel=ugc href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6p9g39vln3yo">https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6p9g39vln3yo</a>