Peña skips Senate impeachment trial as Paraguay reels from Ueno bank collapse

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguayan President Santiago Peña failed to appear for his impeachment trial in the Senate on Friday despite vowing to defend himself in person, as lawmakers moved toward a verdict that could remove him from office over the dramatic collapse of a bank tied to his administration.

Senators voted 39-3 to reject Peña’s request for another 72 hours to prepare his defense. When neither he nor a lawyer showed up at the scheduled time to argue his case, senators moved on without him and began reviewing the evidence against him.

His lawyers, Ricardo Preda and Adolfo Ferreiro, arrived soon after and argued that senators had denied Peña enough time to prepare and should have accepted his resignation rather than pressing ahead with the trial.

The legal distinction matters. Paraguay’s Constitution grants democratically elected former presidents parliamentary immunity from prosecution through a lifetime senate seat, unless they have been convicted in an impeachment trial. Prosecutors on Thursday opened three criminal investigations into the bank’s collapse, including complaints against Peña, Vice President Pedro Alliana and current and former officials at the central bank and the state pension fund.

Ferreiro said the defense reserved the right to challenge the proceedings before Paraguay’s Supreme Court and international human rights bodies, arguing that Peña had been denied due process.

Peña had vowed Thursday night to appear, writing on X, “I will present myself and exercise my right to defense."

By Friday morning, he was asking for more time. He said he had received the summons only hours before the session, along with about 300 pages of accusations and evidence, leaving him no time to hire a lawyer or review the case. In other countries that have impeached presidents in recent years, including the United States and Brazil, accused leaders have had weeks to prepare a defense.

Peña’s government also began to unravel on Friday, deepening the political crisis. Interior Minister Enrique Riera resigned late Thursday, followed Friday by chief of staff Javier Giménez and presidential legal adviser Roberto Moreno.

In just three days, the bank Ueno’s implosion has plunged Paraguay into its deepest political crisis in more than a decade. Regulators seized the bank before dawn Tuesday. By Thursday afternoon, Peña had offered to resign as his own party turned on him.

“It was never my intention to betray the trust you placed in me,” he said in a video address as Paraguayans took to the streets of Asunción, the capital, and other cities, clashing with police and demanding that Peña be held accountable.

Former President Horacio Cartes, Peña’s mentor and the patriarch of the long-ruling conservative Colorado Party, publicly backed his ouster. The lower house then voted 78-0 to impeach Peña and send the case to the Senate. It was a stunning reversal for the former International Monetary Fund economist, whose presidency had rested on the backing of his party’s most powerful figures.

Peña’s allies tried Thursday to get Congress to accept his resignation rather than impeach him. When they saw they lacked the votes, they walked out of a joint session called to consider it, leaving too few lawmakers to proceed.

Conviction requires 30 votes in the 45-member Senate. Either way, Alliana, who survived his own impeachment attempt Thursday, will serve out the term through August 2028.

The impeachment charges center on Peña’s close ties to Ueno, which grew from a little-known lender into one of Paraguay’s largest banks in just a few years, taking in more than $800 million in public funds.

Lawmakers cite Peña’s stake in Ueno’s holding company, which he sold only last year, and his appointment of a former Ueno executive to run the central bank that regulated it. They also accuse him of letting public pension deposits at the bank exceed legal limits.

Former Ueno CEO Miguel Vázquez has been charged with crimes including breach of trust and attempted fraud, and a judge has ordered six bank directors held in pretrial detention. Police and prosecutors raided company offices in Asunción and towed nine luxury vehicles from Vázquez’s home early Friday.

Ueno’s nearly 3 million customers still cannot withdraw cash, make digital payments or use their bank cards. The central bank calls the collapse an isolated case and insists the broader financial system is safe.

Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Lawmakers debate whether to accept President Santiago Pena's resignation, after Paraguay's central bank took over Ueno Bank amid a solvency crisis that froze millions of people's savings, at Congress in Asuncion, Paraguay, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Protesters burn a effigy depicting President Santiago Pena outside Congress following a failed session to discuss Pena's resignation, days after Paraguay's central bank took over Ueno Bank over a solvency crisis, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

People protest outside Congress during a session to discuss President Santiago Pena's resignation, days after Paraguay's central bank took over Ueno Bank amid a solvency crisis, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Lawmakers debate whether to accept President Santiago Pena's resignation following Paraguay's central bank takeover of Ueno Bank amid a solvency crisis, at Congress in Asuncion, Paraguay, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

People protest in front of police against the government and Ueno Bank, which Paraguay's central bank seized amid a solvency crisis, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The 82-year-old estranged father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was arrested Friday morning in Florida on a charge of possessing child sexual abuse material in storage units in California, authorities said.

Thomas Markle Sr. was arrested outside Tampa, according to people who were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Federal agents searched two storage units in the Los Angeles area and “seized approximately 78 items, including slides, film negatives, and books” that contained suspected child sexual abuse images, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said.

The Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper, first reported Markle’s arrest.

Markle, who has rented the units since 2008, is charged with possessing images of child sexual abuse, Essayli said. His arrest follows reports by The Sun, another British tabloid, that Meghan’s half brother found a collection of such images while clearing out their father's home in the Philippines.

That overseas discovery led to information about the U.S. storage units. Some images appear to depict Markle with children, according to an FBI affidavit filed in court.

Markle was expected to make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon in Tampa, Florida. It was not immediately known if he has an attorney who can respond to the allegations.

“These allegations are extremely serious, and we will prosecute Mr. Markle to the fullest extent of federal law,” Essayli said.

Meghan, an American citizen who starred in the U.S. television drama “Suits,” married Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in 2018. They have two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

She recently said she was “deeply distressed” by allegations that a collection of child sexual abuse images had been found at her father’s former home. She also revealed that a letter containing “troubling allegations” about him had been sent to London police in 2018.

“It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated,” Meghan said of the letter. "I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children was for one reason: to protect them.”

There was no immediate comment from Meghan’s representative on Friday.

Meghan's father, a retired television lighting and photography director, did not attend the wedding, prompting extensive coverage in the British media of Meghan’s estrangement from her father.

Thomas Markle Sr. was living in the Philippines earlier this year when he suffered a stroke and had his left leg amputated. That forced him to return to the U.S.

The Sun reported that Thomas Markle Jr. recently found “hundreds, if not thousands” of child sex abuse images in boxes at his father’s former home in Cebu City, in the Philippines. Markle Jr. told The Sun that he reported the images to police in the Philippines and contacted the FBI.

“I have supported, cared for him and helped him for years — but that stops now,” Markle Jr. said. “I won’t speak to my father ever again unless I’m called to give evidence against him.”

Durkin Richer reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press journalist Ed White in Detroit contributed.

FILE - Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, attends the inauguration of "The Lost Screen Memorial" exhibition for the unveiling of a temporary memorial to protect children from online abuse, in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 17, 2026. (Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via AP, File)