Socialist Alternative Paraguay, International Socialist League (ISL) · Asunción, November 5, 2026

Millions of Paraguayans—both men and women—cannot access their savings. The Central Bank took over Ueno Bank, one of the country’s largest private banks, after confirming that its solvency ratio had fallen below 50% of the required minimum, freezing the funds of millions of account holders, including retirees. As we write, the Chamber of Deputies is in session to discuss the impeachment proceedings against President Santiago Peña. They are plotting to grant impunity to Peña and his henchmen. We say no to parliamentary immunity or protection for criminals.

This Scam Has a Face and a Name

Ueno wasn’t just another bank: it was a project with strong backing that came up thanks to the Colorado Party caucus following Peña’s inauguration. Carlos Carvallo, president of the Central Bank—the agency tasked with overseeing it—had previously served as president of Ueno and resigned when the crisis erupted. Peña held shares in the group that controlled the bank until, following investigations by the press and the opposition, he was forced to divest himself of them in April 2025, selling all his shares. The Social Security Institute (IPS) deposited retirement funds in Ueno, consistently violating legal limits to benefit the project—such as the 2023 law governing the Superintendency of Retirement and Pensions—as well as the “Zero Hunger” initiative, a procurement project whose funding depended on the elimination of FONACIDE (royalties from ITAIPU). As early as July, it was noted that the bank had raised twice its actual net worth from the government.

To date, the Prosecutor’s Office has ordered the arrest of eight individuals linked to the bank. The indictment filed by 35 members of Congress against Peña alleges a conflict of interest, co-optation of the state, regulatory manipulation, embezzlement of IPS pension funds, and evidence of illicit enrichment. These are allegations that require a thorough investigation, but the pattern is clear. People’s savings and retirees’ funds ended up serving a bank with close ties to those in power.

The Loot of the Colorado Party and the State

This was not a failure of oversight; it is the normal functioning of a regime in which the ruling party runs the state as if it were its own business. The same apparatus was used to regulate, deposit public funds, and conduct business. It is the same logic by which doctors in the Sinamed union are told that “there’s no money,” while Congress votes to provide its members with $6.2 million in private health insurance. Public universities are becoming increasingly underfunded, while the children of the bosses and their political representatives attend Ivy League universities or directly hold public office with fake degrees.

There’s no money for health care, education, or wages; but when it comes to friendly banks and the privileges of the political elite, money suddenly appears.

Not an Isolated Case

They want us to believe that this is an anomaly, a case of “rotten apples” in a harmonious system where the free market regulates itself. Reality is quite the opposite. In 1995 in Paraguay, in 2008 in the United States, in 2001 in Argentina, and again in 2023—with the bankruptcies of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse—governments stepped in to bail out the banks with public money. Profits are privatized and losses are socialized. Paraguay is a local manifestation of this global dynamic of capitalism in crisis, financialization, and debt: the country’s public debt already exceeds $22 billion, and the population’s savings are at the mercy of bankers with ties to those in power.

Let the People Decide, not Parliament

Congress has now announced that it will proceed with the impeachment trial. Horacio Cartes, president of the Colorado Party, withdrew his support for Peña in a statement; the ruling-party caucuses announced that they would vote in favor of the impeachment, but in the middle of the session, the Cartists steamrolled the process by accepting his resignation and pushing for his status as a senator for life. Under Paraguay’s Constitution—a product of the Stronist era—presidents, upon leaving office, automatically become senators for life with immunity until their deaths. We reject the acceptance of Peña’s parliamentary resignation, which is intended to shield him with impunity! Trial, punishment, prison, and the expropriation of all his assets—now. 

Let’s not be mistaken. We have no trust in Parliament, nor in anyone who has governed on behalf of those at the top. We must maintain constant mobilization and put an end to this entire regime of Colorado party rule and the false liberal opposition. We have no trust in this anti-democratic system of Colorados and fake opposition parties that always protect those who profit from and exploit workers and the people at the bottom: Let the people—and above all, the entire people—decide everything!

A Way Out of the Streets

It has now been three days of intense protests: students, unions, young people, and social and political organizations are speaking out in the face of every crisis. From Alternativa Socialista and the ISL in Paraguay, we call for the struggle to continue until:

• Savings are given back: not a single guaraní should be lost—neither from hardworking savers nor from retirees.
• Those responsible must be held accountable: trial and punishment, seizure of their assets, disclosure of financial records, and an independent investigation conducted by a commission that is separate from all Colorado Party institutions and composed of representatives of the defrauded savers. 
• Nationalization of the financial and banking system, and for it to function under workers’ control, so that the people’s savings are no longer the business of a select few.
• Out with Peña and his entire government, to make way for a solution from those at the bottom—for a government led by those who have never governed: the workers and the poor. 

That is the way forward: we are building it from the streets, together with the workers, the youth with no future, and the poor people of our country. We call on our sister organizations in the ISL to spread the word about this struggle beyond all borders, so that everyone knows that in Paraguay, too, we can stand up to the die-hard right wing. 

Let the bankers and politicians pay for the crisis—not working people!

For the building of an anti-capitalist and socialist political alternative!

We call on everyone who agrees with these proposals to come together and build something new and revolutionary to turn everything around in Paraguay.