AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Prosecutors accused President Santiago Peña of funneling nearly a billion dollars of government funds to the Ueno bank as its executives made reckless insider loans.Protesters gathered outside the home of Santiago Peña, the president of Paraguay, in Asunción, the country’s capital, on Friday.Credit...Jorge Saenz/Associated PressAdam B.

Ellick and Laurence BlairAdam B. Ellick reported from São Paulo, Brazil, Laurence Blair from Asunción, Paraguay.Nov.

9, 2026, 5:02 a.m. ETThe bank offered Paraguayans a sleek financial future with only a credit card tap and a ping on their phones, complete with tantalizing deals of 40 percent cash back on credit card purchases.It had splashy sponsorship deals with soccer teams, and ambitions to be a billion-dollar start-up.

Two out of three adult Paraguayans bought in, from Indigenous people signing up for their first bank accounts to the country’s elites and young urbanites.But last week, amid charges of insider dealing and collusion between the bank and regulators, the digital illusion vanished. Customers opened their apps Tuesday morning to see the words “Try Later.” Trying later didn’t help.The bank, Ueno, had collapsed, casting Paraguay, a low-tax nation sometimes billed as the new Dubai, into a spiraling crisis of money, politics and criminal investigations.Millions of people, locked out of their accounts, unable to withdraw cash or to use credit cards or the bank’s app to buy fuel, medicine or food.

Prosecutors filed charges against dozens of public officials and the bank’s executives, and days of angry protests culminated on Friday night with the unanimous impeachment and arrest of President Santiago Peña, an ally of President Trump who was once an international darling of the right.On Saturday, prosecutors indicted Mr. Peña, accusing him of funneling nearly a billion dollars of government money to Ueno as its executives made reckless insider loans.

At the same time, they said, Carlos Carvallo, the former president of the nation’s central bank, looked the other way and lied to lawmakers as the bank went under.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?

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