Teachers strike in Paraguay to demand pension fund protections following bank's collapse

Public schoolteachers went on strike in Paraguay Monday and took to the streets of several cities following the collapse of a major bank that resulted in the removal of the nation’s president last week.

Silvio Piris, the president of the Federation of Paraguayan Educators, said that teachers in Paraguay are concerned over the fate of around 60 million dollars in pensions funds that had been deposited in Ueno, the bank that was intervened by Paraguay’s government last week.

“We want the return of that money to be a priority,” Piris told Paraguay’s Channel 9.

More than 3 million people were frozen out of their bank accounts last Tuesday after Paraguay’s government intervened in Ueno Bank. Its closure has also affected pension funds and government-owned accounts.

The bank’s collapse led to the removal of Paraguayan President Santiago Peña, who was accused by legislators of using his political influence to steer hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds into Ueno while regulators overlooked risky insider lending.

Peña was charged on Saturday with two crimes related to the bank's collapse, as an anti-corruption probe that also involves the former head of Paraguay’s central bank expands. The former president is being held at a military base while investigations continue. He has been replaced by his vice president, Pedro Alliana.

In a press conference Saturday, prosecutors said Peña would be investigated for the crimes of breach of trust and administration for personal gain, and could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

The impeachment charges against Peña allege that the former president held a stake in Ueno’s holding company, which he divested under pressure last year, and appointed a former Ueno executive to run the central bank that regulated it. Lawmakers also accuse Peña of letting the state pension fund deposit $355 million at the bank, beyond legal limits. Peña has denied wrongdoing.

The Central Bank last week began to return deposits to account holders, and said that by Saturday it had partially or fully refunded more than 1.2 million Ueno customers. Bank deposits in Paraguay are insured up to an amount of around $37,000.

The crisis has sparked multiple protests from account holders that have resulted in clashes with police. It has also generated doubts over the stability of Paraguay’s financial system. The nation’s currency, the guarani, has lost about 8% of its value against the U.S. dollar since Ueno was intervened.

The interior of a closed Ueno Bank's office, which Paraguay's central bank seized amid a solvency crisis, is seen through its window that broken last week during a protest against the government and the bank in Asuncion, Paraguay, Monday, Nov. 9 , 2026. (A) Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Women sit outside a closed Ueno Bank's office, which Paraguay's central bank seized amid a solvency crisis, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Monday, Nov. 9 , 2026. (A) Photo/Jorge Saenz)

ISTANBUL (AP) — A huge explosion and fire at an iron and steelworks in western Turkey left 16 people dead Monday, officials said.

The fire at the HABAS plant in Aliaga, Izmir province, also injured 13 people, two of them critically, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised address following a scheduled Cabinet meeting.

“Judicial and administrative investigations have been launched into the explosion,” Erdogan said. “The reasons and circumstances of this tragic event, which has deeply saddened our nation, as well as whose negligence was involved and who is responsible, will be revealed.”

Provincial Gov. Suleyman Elban said that a crane fell into a furnace as it was replacing a boiler, causing an explosion in a nearby steel mill. There were 200 workers in the vicinity instead of the usual 300 because production had been halted for the boiler switch, he said.

Earlier, broadcaster NTV showed images of the immediate aftermath of the explosion, with a large fire inside the facility and a tall column of smoke rising.

“The ground shook. It was very intense,” witness Nuri Ali Ulker was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Another witness, Deniz Ulker, said that the explosion “felt like the earth’s crust was shifting beneath us. I thought it was an earthquake,” according to Anadolu.

Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said that emergency teams fought the blaze while searching for casualties.

“Our injured compatriots have been taken to hospitals and their health is being closely monitored,” he posted on social media.

The governor’s office said that the blast happened around noon (0900 GMT). It said that an investigation had been launched and Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said that four public prosecutors had been assigned to the case.

The private Demiroren News Agency reported that five people were detained in relation to the explosion.

Aliaga has a large port and is known for shipbreaking, which critics say has caused significant environmental damage and has led to calls to remove its shipbreaking yard from the European Union’s list of ship recycling facilities.

The disaster came as world leaders and environmental activists gathered in Antalya, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, for talks on curbing climate change.

The HABAS plant was established in 1987 and can produce 4.5 million tons of steel annually, according to the company’s website.

Smoke rises aftermath of an explosion at the Habas iron and steel plant in Izmir, Turkey, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (Ali Ihsan Ciftci/IHA via AP)