ASUNCIÓN.- Following the removal of Santiago Peña, the Paraguayan Congress swore in Pedro Alliana as the country's new president this Friday, amid the political and financial scandal surrounding Ueno Bank. The former vice president assumed the head of state as first in Peña's constitutional line of succession, fallen from grace as a consequence of the bank's chaotic collapse, which since Tuesday has brought thousands of demonstrators into the streets demanding answers.
"We must build a dignified government (…) that is why I demand that the ministers, at the end of each day, account to me for the action of the change they produce in each workday, without excuses," said Alliana, in a first attempt to bring calm and restore confidence.
Pedro Alliana receives the presidential sash in the company of his wife
Fabián Marelli
"The changes and adjustments that will be needed we will define over the course of the days," added the new head of state, who advanced some of his main policy lines. Above all, he announced compensation for the savers harmed by Ueno Bank's lack of solvency, discovered and revealed this week.
"The compatriots who today are going through a difficult moment as a consequence of the financial collapse will be fully compensated. We are not going to leave them alone," he affirmed after receiving the presidential sash and baton.
A delicate mission
Alliana thanked the Congress "for the delicate mission they had to carry out today," in reference to the multiple sessions that determined Peña's removal, who was ousted from office by a practically unanimous vote of the Paraguayan legislators.
Alliana thus took political distance from his predecessor, and also did so in one of his announcements of the night, by promising a program to rationalize "superfluous spending," highlighting, for example, the excess of official trips, and thereby "saving resources for the sectors that need them most" in Paraguayan society.
Savers and other demonstrators enraged with the government over the Ueno case
Fabián Marelli
"Thanks to all Paraguayans, to those of my party, to those of other political sectors, to those who belong to none, because this homeland we raise together. Long live Paraguay!" he closed before leaving the chamber.
Alliana, 52 years old, grew up in a family linked to politics. His parents, Héctor Rubén Alliana and María Nidia Rodríguez, were departmental councilors for the National Encounter Party (PEN). In 2006 he ran as a candidate for mayor of the city of Pilar for the Colorado Party, but failed to win. Two years later, at 34, he achieved his first major victory by being elected governor of the department of Ñeembucú, a post he held until 2012. In 2013 he made the leap to national politics by becoming a deputy for his department. He remained in the Lower House for a decade, which he presided over from 2019 to 2022, consolidating his position within the ruling party's structure.
Demonstrators burn an effigy representing the ousted Santiago Peña
DANIEL DUARTE / AFP - AFP
In the general elections of April 2023 he joined Santiago Peña on the Colorado Party's presidential ticket, which won the election. Both took office on August 15 of that year.
Alliana has been married since 2006 to Fabiana María Souto, also a Colorado activist and national deputy for Ñeembucú, and is the father of four children. His wife accompanied him during the inauguration ceremony as president.
His assumption of power caps a hectic week that began with the Central Bank's announcement of the dissolution of Ueno Bank, linked to Peña and which held the largest share of public funds and the pension assets of the Social Security Institute, in addition to having nearly 3 million private clients and savers.