A swearing-in within minutes of an impeachment
Pedro Alliana moved from vice president to head of state in a matter of hours. He took the oath before Congress this Friday, shortly after lawmakers approved the removal of Santiago Peña, who faced accusations of a conflict of interest over his ties to the conglomerate behind Ueno Bank. The Central Bank had intervened in the private lender earlier in the week after detecting solvency problems, a step that cut millions of Paraguayans and several public institutions off from their savings.[S1][S2][S3]
The Senate voted 44 in favor of removing Peña, who was found culpable in absentia. Under Article 234 of the Constitution, the vice president assumes the presidency automatically to complete the five-year term that began in August 2023, and Article 227 requires that substitution to be immediate. Antonio Barrios was named vice president. Prosecutors ordered Peña's immediate detention in a case concerning breach of trust and other offenses linked to the Ueno scandal, and police surrounded his home on Friday night.[S2][S3][S5][S6]
In Asunción, hundreds of people celebrated the Senate's decision in the streets. During the impeachment proceedings, accusers said roughly 1.2 billion dollars of public money was lost when Ueno Bank closed and described three million people as affected in a single day. The Central Bank had ordered the intervention and the start of a resolution and liquidation process on November 3.[S1][S3]
A Colorado Party career built from the south
Alliana was born on February 19, 1974, in Pilar, the capital of Ñeembucú department in southern Paraguay, and worked as a merchant in his hometown before entering politics. In his youth he played basketball and in 1991 joined the national team, the era that gave him the nickname Mangui. His parents, Héctor Rubén Alliana and María Nidia Rodríguez, served as departmental councillors for the Partido Encuentro Nacional, a force different from the Colorado Party he would later choose.[S2][S4][S6]
His first electoral attempt failed: in 2006 he ran for mayor of Pilar and lost. Two years later he was elected governor of Ñeembucú, taking office at 33 or 34 depending on the account, and held the post until 2012 or 2013. He moved to national politics in 2013 as a deputy for his department and spent a decade in the lower chamber, which he presided over for several periods between 2015 and 2022.[S1][S2][S4][S6]
His rise was closely tied to former president Horacio Cartes, who promoted him inside the Colorado Party and made him one of the trusted figures of the Honor Colorado faction. Alliana led the party's governing board from 2016 until 2023, when Cartes himself succeeded him. In the April 2023 general elections he ran for vice president alongside Peña, and both took office on August 15 of that year.[S2][S4][S6]
Alliana has also drawn criticism. He was accused of possible nepotism over relatives holding public posts, scrutiny that intensified after it emerged that his daughter, Montserrat Alliana, had been hired at the Chamber of Deputies. Reports on his education have been contentious as well: ABC Color said it verified with the Education Ministry that he studied international relations at Universidad Autónoma San Sebastián. He is married to Fabiana María Souto, a Colorado leader and national deputy for Ñeembucú, and has four children.[S1][S2][S6]
Cartes, the bank crisis and the road to 2028
Analysts say Alliana could not have reached the presidency without the approval of Cartes. Rocío Duarte, a political scientist at the Universidad Católica de Asunción, said Alliana built a close bond with the former president from the moment he entered politics and belonged to his inner circle. Weeks before the crisis, Alliana had appeared to distance himself after Cartes tried to impose a running mate on him for the next presidential election.[S1]
The rift did not last. On Thursday afternoon the then vice president reappeared alongside Cartes at a Colorado Party meeting where both backed the impeachment of Peña. Duarte said that because Cartes stayed on the sidelines of the Ueno crisis, the two camps will probably move closer again. She described Alliana as a politician with a long party record who knows the party's bureaucratic structure across the country.[S1]
In his address to Congress, Alliana said he comes from Ñeembucú, a land where the nation fought for its own life, and thanked his party while reaffirming loyalty to its doctrinal principles. He said the Paraguay he inherits has urgencies that require officials to be in the streets, in hospitals and in the countryside. He also said that compatriots enduring hardship because of the financial collapse will be fully compensated and will not be left alone.[S1][S5]
Opposition groups want Alliana himself impeached over allegations including political shielding and omission, but the Chamber of Deputies rejected opening a trial against him on Thursday, clearing his path as Peña's successor. He becomes the country's 52nd president and the 11th of the democratic era. His immediate task is to steer the country through the crisis opened by the Ueno closure and to rebuild a leadership position for the Colorado Party ahead of the 2028 elections.[S1][S3]
