Ousted Paraguayan president placed under house arrest after bank collapse

Detailed summary

Collapse of government-linked bank locks nearly half the country’s six million people out of their savings

Ousted Paraguayan President Santiago Peña was placed under house arrest Friday on suspicion of breach of trust and influence peddling, among other charges, shortly after the Senate removed him from office over the collapse of a government-linked bank that locked nearly half the country’s 6 million people out of their savings.

All 44 senators present voted to remove Peña for misconduct in office, making him the second Paraguayan president ousted by impeachment since the end of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner’s 35-year dictatorship in 1989.

As the verdict came down, ending what had been seen as one of South America’s most stable presidencies, a roar rose from the crowds packed into the plaza outside Congress. Depositors, retirees and students in national soccer jerseys waved Paraguayan flags, sang and hugged, chanting “Dictatorship never again!”

Regulators had seized Ueno Bank just three days…

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