- 1 hour ago
During the debate leading up to the vote, several members of Congress warned against attempts to grant impunity, which underpins the call for resignation, and advocated for an impeachment process that addresses the demands of the Paraguayan people. Meanwhile, senators from the ruling party boycotted the quorum in Congress and prevented a vote on President Santiago Peña's resignation.
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00:02We go live to the Paraguayan Congress to see the voting of the impeachment of the
00:07president of the country, Santiago Peña. Let's listen.
00:14Natalicio Chache, presenting of the resignment, Pedro Díaz-Verón, Rafael Filizola, there
00:33we can see is the Congress are voting. They are against, Juan Carlos Alaverna Ortega, he's
00:49voting for the, is accepting the resignment, Paisan Fuentes. Ignacio Namai.
01:14We see that there are senators that are voting against the impunity of the president of Paraguay,
01:24Santiago Peña. Walter.
01:42There is another senator that resigned that is against the resignment of the president.
01:52As we can see that there is the Congress that is voting against or in favor of the impeachment
02:01of the president, Santiago Peña in Paraguay. There are different decisions that are taking
02:10place. Some of them accept the resignment of the president and others are voting against
02:17it. And in that way, the president can be impeached and known as citizens by the head of the state.
02:26Eduardo Nakayama.
02:28Eduardo Nakayama.
02:28Eduardo Nakayama.
02:28Different senators are voting against this. They are rejecting the resignation of the president
02:37of Paraguay, Santiago Peña. As we know that he is being, this vote is due to the scandal of the
02:51Ueno Bank and the corruption scandal and the three million customers that are unable to access
02:58to their funds that are more than three U.S. million dollars in public pensions and state-owned
03:08that deposed in this bank. We can see that these senators are voting for the impeachment that was
03:15said to take place this day, the voting. And there are many senators that are saying no to their resignation
03:26in this way. If the majority votes against the resignation, the president of the country will be impeached as head
03:37of state.
03:38And in that way, the consequences and charges will be higher. There are many, many, many senators that are saying
03:49no to his resignation
03:51due to this has been a lot of money that was in the bank, the Ueno Bank. And now there
04:00are people that can access to their
04:04fundings. The country, the people, citizens have been in process. And also police crashed down the following
04:14the dissolution of Ueno Bank, the dissolution of Ueno Bank. Depositors took to the streets of downtown Asuncion to demand
04:26the
04:26return of their funds. In this way, police cracked down on the demonstrators using tear gas and water cannons just
04:33just one block away from the president's palace. The public outrage triggered, as we are saying, by the Ueno Bank's
04:45dissolution. And the freezing of thousands of depositors found sparks widespread indignation in Asuncion and growing the
04:54uncertainty. And President Santiago Peña pledged that protecting people's savings will be the government's top priority.
05:03Hundreds of Paraguayan depositors staged massive protests in downtown Asuncion this Tuesday, leading to heightened
05:13tensions, physical confrontations, and police for present aims at the financial and institutional crisis triggered by the
05:22interventions and dissolution of the Ueno Bank, which left a large portion of the population unable to access to third
05:31accounts.
05:31As we say in the demonstrators, brought together people affected by the freezing of funds held by the digital banking
05:41institution. Here is the Congress, Senators, the Senate of Paraguay voting against this resentment of the president and calling for
05:57justice to justice to take place. And the citizens are calling for justice to their accounts or their
06:07currency and their money because the dissolution of this vague made that citizens couldn't access to their money and their
06:20savings. There are people, the senators,
06:23senators, the votes on President Peña's resignation against, many senators are voting against his resignation and
06:33saying that justice needs to be done. Many citizens are demanding, many citizens were to the streets and asked for
06:44their money. Many citizens had,
06:49had no savings after the dissolution of this bank, and what citizens who are pro-alliance
06:59are asking for justice and can access to their savings, and the who concede the Senate its
07:09voting. Some are voting in favor of the resignation and others against the resignations. This has
07:20reasons because the Senators are voting in favor is to be in an easy process so the citizens can
07:31have back or can access to their savings, but the ones that are saying no to the resignation
07:38is due to be processed as a president of head of state and be responsible of his actions during
07:46his term being in office and the people can have their solutions or their justice.
07:58Protesters, as we were saying, march through the Capitol's main streets to denounce the
08:04financial collapse and the money needed answers for authorities. Hundreds were calling for the
08:10impeachment, demanding that the Congress move forward. So we're proceeding against President
08:16Santiago Peña, and that's what we can see right now. The Congress is voting once in favor and others
08:23against the resignation and acceptance of the resignation of President Santiago Peña. We have
08:30the results of the results of the total voting when once the Senators ends finishing so that as
08:37now we can keep waiting for the result and to know if the President will be impeached or no. As
08:45Senators are supporting the citizens not only that word on the private in that private bank because
08:52let's remember they went about it was private but it was also having public savings and there are many people
09:03that can access it to their money and their savings.
09:10There were yesterday on Wednesday a demonstration that made it the President of the country, Santiago
09:21Peña, to resign due to this violence of how the magnitude of violence that had these protests as to
09:31disperse demonstrators from the bloc, just one bloc from the bloc's presidential palace in Asunción
09:39police used tear gas and water cannons and they fired tear gas at the citizens that were
09:47demonstrating and asking for the answers to these situations. There were physical confrontations
09:56as the street's demand, the street demonstrates that erupted following the political shockwaves
10:04caused by the central bank of Paraguay's intervention and dissolution of the one bank after detecting a
10:11critical deterioration in its urgency. The measures left strategic public resources frozen including
10:21approximately 380 US million dollars belonging to the Social Security Institute in pension funds as well
10:32as millions of dollars in deposits held by public institutions. This crisis from the resignation of
10:40central bank's president Carlos Carvalho and lead opposition factions in Congress to push for
10:48impeachment proceeding against President Santiago Peña and Vice President Pedro Adriana. Questioning
10:54their previous ties to the institution and the government are the end of the bank. As I mean,
11:01in a while, the Paraguay's Attorney General's Office ordered the arrest of banks and executives of the
11:07financial systems sought to contain the damage to public confidence. The government response was
11:15to spread public anger. The President Santiago Peña issued a statement through official government
11:21channels seeking to calm tensions and outlines that the executive branch had positions in growing economic
11:29economy. Let's quote the President. If I am fully aware that thousands of Paraguayans are concerned about
11:36yesterday's events triggered by the central banks of Paraguay's decision, she proceeds with the
11:42dissolution of the Ruano Bank. This was the statement of the President. Peña sought to the reassured
11:49affected depositors to stay in and let's quote, I understand the certainty that a situation like this creates
11:57above all. I know that behind every saving account are the hard work and sacrifice of dozens of Paraguayans.
12:04That is why the Paraguayan government priority will always be to protect the threats of those
12:10efforts with all strengths and provide concrete, swift and responsible solutions. After this,
12:18the Congress took place in these votes after the resignation of the President Santiago Peña in that
12:30country saying they are defending if they are to accept or to vote against the resignation of Presidents,
12:41the hard, they are different votes. As we were saying, some senators are accepting the resignation and others are definitely
12:51against and saying they are voting against
12:55because justice needs to be done in this situation for the citizens and the populations that can't access
13:01to their savings. We can see here is the Congress. Some are absent in the Senate, but the ones that
13:10are present are voting against and asking for a political
13:15judgment for the President Santiago Peña. Let's record that he resigns from office effective immediately following the systematic corruption surrounding
13:27the collapse of Buena Bank.
13:29President Santiago Peña announced his resignation in a national address, saying the decision was made to preserve social peace and
13:39institutional stability across the country.
13:42The sudden departure of the head of the state followed officials' announcement from the Congressional leaders in the Chamber of
13:51Deputies,
13:52confirming they held the necessary legislative votes to pass impeachment proceedings against him.
13:59The political crisis erupted after the financial regulators ordered the emergency closure of Buena Bank,
14:08an institution with deep personal and political links to Peña, which froze savings for the 3 million accounts holders
14:19and endangered nearly 400 million dollars in public pension reserves, triggering widespread national protests that end up in the physical
14:31violence from the police,
14:37repression against the citizens that were demanding their savings and access to their savings.
14:43Let's read with you the resignation speech of the President Santiago Peña.
14:53He said, My fellow citizens, we quote, I'll address you today at one of the most difficult moments of my
15:00life,
15:00with my heart set on Paraguay and with the conviction that our republic must always take precedence
15:07over any individual or circumstance. History will judge and put into proper perspective the events we currently experience.
15:18I have taken the decision to tender my resignation as President of the Republic.
15:23I do so with the stability of our country, social peace and the need to preserve our democratic institutions in
15:32mind.
15:32I do so with the utmost respect for our national constitution and for the institutional and democratic mechanisms we have
15:42established as a nation.
15:43I am convinced that no office can take precedence over the welfare of Paraguay.
15:50I also wish to apologize to the people if at any time I have failed them. It was an invitation
16:01to betray the truth that they place in me.
16:05Every day I took on this responsibility with determination to work for Paraguay, but today I have the responsibility to
16:13demonstrate the demonstration to work.
16:17But today I have to have but one priority, the peace of mind of the Paraguayan people who would entrust
16:32their savings to our financial system.
16:35Behind every deposit lie years of hard work, sacrifice and family plans.
16:40My greatest wish is that the growth of those funds be guaranteed, that the deposit guaranteed funds fulfills its purpose,
16:51and the public funds and the resources and the belongings to all Paraguay are protected.
16:57Dear fellow citizens, we are a country of our institutions that has, with their very difficult times, and has always
17:06managed to rise again.
17:08I have the deepest confidence in the strength of the people and the ability of our institutions to overcome this
17:16situation.
17:16Today we must demonstrate once again that democracy is respected and that our institutions are safeguarded and that the Paraguayan
17:25stands above our differences.
17:28Not of this is more important than the disability of the republic, not individualists above Paraguay.
17:33I am grateful for the truth placed in me throughout my time in my office and for having been given
17:41the honor of serving this nation.
17:43God bless every Paraguayan family and may God bless Paraguay.
17:47This was the speech that gave Santiago Peña, the president of Paraguay, when he presented the resignation to the Congress
18:00and the people after the corruption and bank scandal.
18:06As in this context, as we can see, a rally took place outside Paraguay's national congress, where participants discussed whether
18:14the impeachment's former president Santiago Peña, after Peña's resignation, was announced on social media groups of protesters gathered near the
18:24national congress in La Palaza de Libertad en Asunción, and demanded that his voluntary resignation not be accepted, and that
18:32impeachment's proceedings would be
18:33to continue.
18:35In this regard, citizens are demanding the removal through the impeachment to prevent the outgoing president from retaining immunity, and
18:47are demanding the full return of the money in question after several consecutive nights of violence, protest, and riots in
18:55the Paraguayan capital.
18:58Also in this sense, opposition members of the parliament acknowledged that the resignation is a maneuver to avoid impeachment and
19:06gain parliamentary immunity as a senator for life.
19:10Peña's resignation was submitted to Congress in the midst of the Chamber of Deputies, debated on the mention for impeachment
19:20against him for the misconducting office.
19:24Members of the Chamber of Deputies.
19:26Members of the Chamber of Deputies calmed the fact that by resigning before being removed from office, Peña triggered the
19:33provision for a senator for life, as set out in Article 189 of the Constitution for former presidents, who completed
19:42their terms of office without being subject to impeachment proceedings.
19:47For more, during the session, they point out that the estates who grant Peña parliamentary immunity, making it difficult for
19:57the judiciary to prosecute him in the UN event case without the Senate's authorization.
20:06Despite Santiago Peña's resignation as president of Paraguay, the Chamber of Deputies unanimously approves his impeachment on Thursday.
20:16There's 78 legislators presenting votes in favor of the president, so the Senate have to decide now that's what we
20:24are seeing, whether to proceed with the impeachment or accept the president's resignations.
20:29The decision came less than an hour after Peña's resignation was made public, and it was formally submitted to the
20:36Congress by Interior Minister Enrique Herrera at approximately 1.30 p.m. local time.
20:41This comes in a crisis triggered by the Wendor Bank.
20:44This scandal is after the ban of Paraguay ordered on Tuesday the takeover of the digital bank, following the discovery
20:51that its open-seas trade had fallen below 50% of the required minimum in a crisis that had frozen
20:59government funds and the savings of millions of citizens, consumers, and retirees.
21:05We can see.
21:07We can see.
21:07We can see.
21:07This is the Parliament and Senate voting in favor of the acceptance of the President Santiago Peña impeachment.
21:21As Paraguay and President Santiago Peña resigning in a crisis triggered by the intervention of Wendor Bank, which led to
21:28a strong political and financial criticism.
21:30As we were saying, the resignation came while the Chamber of Deputies debate impeachment proceeding against him.
21:38Despite the resignations, Legal voted to continue with the process, which was initiated by the sectors of the opposition and
21:49members of his own party.
21:51In a public statement, Peña affirmed that he was living in office to prevent institutional disability, to preserve my part
21:58on institutional disability, social peace, and confidence in the Paraguayan democratic system.
22:04The President also expressed his concern for the nearly 3 million customers affected by the Wendor Bank intervention and said
22:15his priority was to guarantee the protection of savings and the public funds involved.
22:21The crisis began when the Central Bank of Paraguay intervened in Wendor Bank after detecting solvency problems that reduced its
22:31capital billows at the levels required by regulations.
22:35The Bank's operational collapse affected services such as transfers, cards, and digital applications, and jeopardized payments that benefited thousands of
22:48retirees and users across the country.
22:50Those pushing for impeachment accused Peña of favoring Wendor Bank due to his previous business ties with the Crib.
23:00The now former President maintained shareholdings related to the financial Crib after assuming the presidency in 2023.
23:09The political crisis worsened when former President Horacio Cartes, leader of the Colorado Party and Peña's main political mentor, publicly
23:20endorsed the opening of impeachment proceedings.
23:24According to Paraguayan institutions, Vice President Pedro Guayana will assume the presidency and complete the presidential term, which is scheduled
23:34to end in 2028.
23:45There is the Congress Senate voting to and calling for the people that are present in the Senate to vote
23:56against or in favor of the acceptance of resignation of President Santiago Peña.
24:03Senators are voting in here to decide whether accepted or rejected and if this will have differences in the way
24:16that he will be judged if he is judged as a citizen, then he will have known to face all
24:24the charges that he'll face as president of the country.
24:30Inter taking that gunfire.lanes
24:32and America is also voting for the country. Korr
24:34morres ? Remember a
24:34protesters and police crackdown happened in Paraguay following the Annual Bank shot done following that the dissolution
24:44of the unemployment depository took to the streets of downtown Asuncion to demand to the return
24:50of their phones, and police crackdown on the demonstration used into a gas and water cannons
24:57just one block lead from the presidential palace you can see that they are voting
25:03there are calling for the different for the different senators that votes some
25:14as we are saying in favorites and others against it let's remember that a public
25:20ultra trigger by the window banks the solutions on the prison of thousands on
25:24deposits how found spark widespread indignation in asuncion in crime street in
25:31the president santiago peña pledge that protecting people's safe savings will be
25:38the government's top priority hundreds of paraguayans depositors stage massive
25:48practices in downtown asuncion on tuesday leading the the intentions of physical
25:55confrontations and police repressions in the deep financial institutional crisis
26:01triggered by the intervention and dissolution of one event which left a
26:06large portion of the population were never unable to access their accounts the
26:13demonstrators are brought together people affected by the freezing of funding held
26:17by the digital banking institution protesters march through the capitol's main street to
26:23denounce their financial collapse and demand immediate answers for the from the
26:29authorities impeachments hundreds of demonstrators were chanting when they
26:34were on the streets demanding a congress move forward with proceeding against
26:38president santiago peña and vice president pedro allinas as the crowd
26:43advances the national police employee security personnel equipped with head high
26:48visible levels to block their path to disperse the demonstrations just one block
26:55from lopez presidential palace in asuncion police use tear gas and water cannons
27:00during the crackdowns officers she fire tear gas at a woman in a wheelchair
27:06protesters responded by raising their voices recording the event under the sun phones and denouncing
27:15the lack of institutional solutions to a measure that paralyzed the operations of approximately
27:21three million customers the area remains under heavy surveillance aim fears of poor
27:29protesters the streets demonstrations erupt following the political shock wave caused by the central bank of
27:39paraguay's intervention and dissolution of the one bank after detecting a critical deterioration in
27:47its holdancy the measures left strategic public sources frozen including approximately more than three u.s.
27:55million dollars in student social security institute in pension funds as well as the millions of dollars in
28:02deposits held by the public institutions crisis prompting the resignation of a bank central bank of
28:09president carlos carvalho and lead opposition's think factions in congress to push for impeachment's
28:17proceedings against president santiago peña and vice president pedro allana questionings their previous
28:23rights to the institutions and the government's oversight of the bank meanwhile paralyzed attorney general's
28:33office order the arrest of banks executives as the financial system started to contain the damage to public
28:48public sectors so we can see that there is this in the deputies this session is a beaten lift and
28:58we'll know the coming results of the voting in this as soon as the senate said these were different
29:10senators senators and deputies at the senate congress voting in favor or against the president santiago
29:19peña's resignations that took place this morning after the the dissolution of the uano bank as we were saying the
29:31paraguayan president santiago peña resigning the crisis triggered by the intervention of the uano bank which
29:38led to strong political and financial criticism these resignations came while the chamber of deputies
29:46debated impeachments proceeding against him despite the resignations legislators voted to continue the
29:55process which was initiated by sectors of the oppositions and members of his own party as we can see
30:05the public statements peña affirmed that he was leaving office to preserve the institutional stability's
30:13social peace and the confidence of the paraguayan democratic systems the president also expressed his
30:19concern for the nearly three million customers affected by the the uano bank intervention and said his
30:28priority was to guarantee the protection and savings of the public funds involved in this the crisis began
30:36when the central bank of barrow such as transfers as were affected such as transfers cards and digital solvencies
30:48were affecting and being and making problems as these made the protestors to call for the impeachment of the president
31:04so don't know the former president and maintain sharp holes relating to the financial group after
31:11assuming the presidency in 2023 the political crisis worsened by former president horacio carter's leaders of
31:20the colorado party and peña's main political mentor publicly endorsed the opening of the impeachment's
31:28proceeding according to the paraguayan constitution vice president pedro ayana will assume the presidency
31:36and complete the presidential term which is scheduled to end in 2028 as we saw that the session at the
31:49senate was
31:50lifted and we will wait for the results of the decision if they were in favor of against the resignation
32:00of
32:00president santiago peña which is now happening these corruption scandals surrounding the collapse of the uano bank
32:10president santiago peña announced his resignation in a national address stating the decision was made to
32:17preserve digital peace and institutional stability across the country the sudden departure of the head of
32:24state followed unofficial announcements from congressional leaders in the chamber of deputies
32:29states confirm that they held full they held the full of unofficial announcement yeah they held the necessary
32:38legislative force to pass impeachment process proceedings against him now we are waiting for the decision
32:45after the the this was lifted from the senate and we will have uh coming soon the decision from the
32:54senate if
32:55they accepted the resignation or if they'd rejected and then he can be impeached as the president of the country
33:26as we saw the president resigned from office with effective immediately following his systematic
33:33corruption surrendering the collapse of the ueno bank the president announced his resignation in a
33:40national address stating the decision was made to preserve the social peace and institutional stability
33:47across the country sudden departure of the head of state followed an official announcement from congressional
33:55leaders in the chamber of deputies confirming data held the necessary legislative votes to pass the
34:01impeachment proceeding against him political crisis erupted after the financial regulators ordered the
34:07emergency closure of one of banga and the institution with the personal and political links to peña
34:13which fraud savings for three million account holders and endangered nearly four hundred million dollars
34:25as we were saying in the congress and senates we were the session was lifted up and there were not
34:33enough senators deputies in the senate to have the majority of vote so it will have
34:43more information so we'll have following this news to give you all the information and all the stories that we
34:52have seen on this case and this corruption scandal from the president of paraguay santiago peña stay tuned to
35:01tell us our english our news briefed from the south we have more information there