Paraguay Ousts Its President As His Daughter’s “Tax The Poor” Shirt Goes Viral

Paraguay’s Senate voted unanimously on Friday to remove President Santiago Peña over the collapse of Ueno Bank, a day after a photo of his 20-year-old daughter in a “Tax the Poor” T-shirt spread across X.

All 44 senators present convicted Peña of misconduct in office, the AP reported. The verdict bars him from the lifetime Senate seat Paraguay’s constitution gives former presidents, along with the immunity that comes with it. He had offered to resign Thursday, and opposition senators argued that accepting the resignation would have kept him eligible for the seat. Congress never voted on it.

Regulators seized Ueno, a digital lender with nearly 3 million customers, before dawn Tuesday and froze their savings, as we reported. Lawmakers accused Peña of using his influence to steer hundreds of millions of dollars in public money into the bank while regulators overlooked risky lending to insiders. He denies wrongdoing.

The Photo

The photo is a mirror selfie of Costanza Peña in a white T-shirt printed with “T.T.P” and “Est. 1969” above the slogan, IBTimes UK reported. SDP Noticias reported that she posted it to her private Instagram account; neither outlet said when. It began circulating on X on Thursday, the day her father offered to resign. She has not responded publicly.

An Internship At A Vázquez Company

Costanza Peña studies financial economics and history at Columbia University, according to SDP Noticias. She interned from February to June 2024 at Itti Saeca, a state supplier whose main shareholder is Grupo Vázquez, the group that owns Ueno, ABC Color reported in January. Her father was still a business partner of Grupo Vázquez and Itti in Ueno Holding at the time, the paper said. SDP Noticias reported that the LinkedIn profile listing the internship has since been deleted.

The same ABC Color report ran her photos from a yacht in Cabo San Lucas at the end of 2025 alongside Peña’s advice that people choose public education to save money. Prosecutors searched Itti’s offices on Thursday as part of the Ueno investigation, ABC Color reported. She has not been accused of wrongdoing.

The impeachment case cited Peña’s stake in Ueno’s holding company, which he sold last year, and his appointment of a former Ueno executive to run the central bank, along with public pension deposits at the bank above legal limits, according to the AP. Ueno has said Peña was never a shareholder in the bank itself.

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Trump Ally and Paraguayan President Resigns After Massive Bank Collapse Freezes Savings of Nearly 3 MILLION Customers — Furious Protesters Flood Streets as Lawmakers Move to Impeach Him

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña announced his resignation Thursday, November 5, 2026, as the sudden collapse of digital lender Ueno Bank locked nearly three million customers out of their accounts, including pensions and public funds, and ignited protests outside Congress.

Peña, a conservative Colorado Party figure elected in 2023 and an ally of President Donald Trump, stepped down hours before lawmakers advanced impeachment charges tied to his prior business links to the bank’s ownership group, BBC reported.

In a video message posted to X, Peña stated he was resigning “with the stability of our country, social peace, and the need to preserve our democratic institutions in mind.”

He added: “I want to apologize to the people if at any point I failed. It was never my intention to betray the trust you placed in me.”

He emphasized that “no public office can take precedence over the well-being of Paraguay” and urged protection of depositors, saying behind every account were “years of effort, sacrifices and family plans.”

A formal resignation letter was later delivered to Congress. Minutes after the announcement, Paraguay’s lower house voted to pursue impeachment (reported as 78-0 or unanimous in multiple accounts), while rejecting a parallel motion against Vice President Pedro Alliana, who stands next in line for the presidency.

The Senate process continued, with Peña indicating he would appear to defend himself.

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