Santiago Pena skips impeachment session as lawyers seek resignation acceptance
Paraguay's President Santiago Pena didn't show up for a big congressional session on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, where lawmakers were set to discuss impeaching him.
Instead, his lawyers asked the Senate to accept his resignation (which he'd just announced) and end the process, but opposition lawmakers opposed accepting the resignation, saying it would give Pena constitutional immunity as a former president and lifetime senator.
The joint congressional session to vote on Pena's resignation was suspended for lack of quorum after lawmakers from the governing Colorado Party left the plenary.
The Senate also refused to delay things for his defense team and went ahead without him.
Santiago Pena accused over Ueno Bank
The impeachment comes after the Banco Central do Paraguai's intervention in Ueno Bank, the controller of Ueno, where Pena used to be a shareholder until March 2025.
He's accused of conflicts of interest and mismanaging things, some say he even interfered in the IPS to help out the bank.
The lower house has already approved these charges; now it's up to the Senate, where they need a two-thirds majority vote to actually remove him from office.
If that happens, Vice President Pedro Alliana would step in as president.