Pedro

Pedro Alliana has been sworn in as the new president of Paraguay, after a banking scandal led to the impeachment of his predecessor, Santiago Pena.

On Friday, Alliana, 52, took the oath of office to become the South American country’s 53rd president.

Previously, Alliana had served as vice president under Pena since the start of the latter’s term in 2023.

But Pena’s tenure came to an abrupt end earlier in the day, after 44 of Paraguay’s senators voted to remove him from office. One senator in the 45-member chamber abstained.

“I take my leave with gratitude, while fully acknowledging the anguish of those who are currently awaiting answers,” Pena wrote on social media on Friday afternoon.

The impeachment marked a rapid fall from power for Pena, a member of the long-governing Colorado Party. His departure coincides this week with the sudden collapse of a prominent lending institution, Ueno Bank.

Questions have arisen about whether the bank was properly regulated by government institutions, and whether Pena himself had conflicts of interests involving the bank.

After Pena’s impeachment, prosecutors announced they would seek his arrest on suspicion of breaching the public trust and other crimes. The former president was reportedly detained at his home.

An arrest warrant was also issued for Carlos Carvallo, the former head of Paraguay’s central bank, which has been accused of failing in its oversight duties. Carvallo resigned earlier this week.

The scandal erupted early on Tuesday, when the central bank announced that Ueno had fallen below the legal standards for solvency, meaning it did not have enough collateral to cover its loans and other ventures.

It seized the lender, transferring its remaining assets to other banking institutions as a safeguard.

Millions of Ueno clients, however, abruptly lost access to their accounts and pension payments as a result of the crisis.

With roughly 3 million members, the bank counted nearly two thirds of Paraguay’s adults among its customers.

The company had rocketed to prominence in recent years, consolidating in 2023 under the brand Ueno — sometimes stylised with lowercase letters as “ueno”. It had grown to be Paraguay’s fifth largest bank by deposits, with $800m in public money fuelling its growth.

Prior to its collapse, Ueno claimed that more than a million Paraguayans had opened their first bank account with the firm.

In 2023, Pena was identified as a shareholder of Ueno’s parent company, though he claimed to have sold his shares in early 2025.

Following the collapse of the lender, Pena offered to step down, citing the “the need to preserve our democratic institutions”.

But on Thursday, Paraguay’s Congress rejected his resignation and instead proceeded with his impeachment.

Pena’s conservative political movement, the Colorado Party, was among the groups in favour of the manoeuvre. The party has largely dominated Paraguayan politics since 1948.

“We support the impeachment of the president of the republic, Santiago Pena, in order to restore the republic’s institutions,” Horacio Cartes, a former president and party leader, wrote in a statement.

Had Pena been allowed to resign, he would have retained the right of former presidents to become a member of the Senate, with legal protections from prosecution.

In Thursday’s hearing, the Chamber of Deputies voted 78 to zero to impeach Pena, allowing for the Senate to remove him from office the following day.

It declined, however, to open impeachment hearings against Alliana.

The newly inaugurated president began his political career as the governor of his home department, Neembucu, in Paraguay’s south, and he served nearly a decade in the Chamber of Deputies, including three years as its president.

Alliana assumes the leadership of Paraguay at a time when it is facing one of its most severe political and economic scandals in recent history.

Prosecutors have questioned whether Ueno was shielded from accountability due to its government connections. Some $355m in state pension funds were invested in the bank.

At least 27 people are facing criminal charges in relation to the scandal, including lead shareholder Miguel Vazquez.

Among the crimes being investigated are attempted fraud, breach of trust, misappropriation of funds and influence peddling.

Pena has signalled he plans to cooperate with the investigation, though he did not appear at the impeachment hearings personally on Friday, sending his lawyers in his stead.

“I do not wish for my presence to be a source of greater division or instability. It is my responsibility to place the country above my own personal fate,” he wrote in a statement.

Earlier in the day, however, he signalled displeasure with the fast pace of the Senate impeachment hearing, requesting an extension “to exercise [his] constitutional right to a defence, as the time currently allotted is clearly insufficient”.

On the balcony of a pink dockside building in San Pedro, a neon sign reading “Saturday Morning Fish Market” glows in the darkness. There’s a quiet stillness in the harbor — the only sounds are of the occasional gull and car whirring by. That is, until 1 a.m. rolls around.

Doors open at 1:30 a.m. at the Saturday Morning Fish Market.

This is when people begin to gather outside the roll-up door, some carrying backpacks ready to be filled.

At 1:30 a.m., a man in an orange apron lifts the door, releasing rays of white light onto the customers. They file inside, stepping onto the wet floor, eager to see the night’s beauties: freshly caught fish, filleted, deboned, washed and thrown onto thick mountains of crushed ice.

Shellfish, sardines, squid, mackerel and a market favorite, glowing salmon filets, sit on display. One employee pulls out crabs with a small net before letting a customer take their pick of the lot. Machines whir in an adjacent room, where fish are processed. Out back, sea lions bark, hoping for scraps.

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The Saturday Morning Fish Market, more formally known as J Deluca Fish Co., has existed for some time — owner John DeLuca claims a variation of the business began operating as early as the late ‘60s. As a child, DeLuca would greet his grandfather when he’d return to the San Pedro port with his catch, perhaps a fresh tuna or a bass to sell. For decades, the wholesale seafood distributor would open its market to the public just once a week — from 1:30 to 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays — usually seeing a smattering of mostly locals, the seafaring type, who might be shopping around after a late-night shift.

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1. Harikrishnan Babuchandran holds up his fresh fish. 2. Customers can watch their fish be processed. 3. The fish that’s for sale changes from week to week. (Linnea Stephan / For The Times)

The Saturday Morning Fish Market in San Pedro has existed in some form since the late ‘60s but thanks to social media, flocks of new customers are wanting in on the late-night seafood-buying adventure.

Neither DeLuca nor his son and co-owner, Chris, could have predicted the San Pedro institution would experience the boom in popularity it’s seeing now, especially in an industry that’s struggled over the past two decades.

Thanks to social media, the market is witnessing an unprecedented revival. At its pre-pandemic peak, it would get around 800 to 1,000 customers on a typical Saturday morning. Nowadays, up to 2,000 people walk through the doors, according to Chris, many of whom are visiting for the first time.

Owners John and Chris DeLuca.

Regarding Instagram and TikTok, where posts giving a glimpse of the late-night fish market have gone viral, John, 73, says, “I know absolutely zero.”

To his credit, he does exhibit some understanding of its effect. And he’s glad for it. “People that live within walking distance never knew we existed. Now they do, and it’s got nothing to do with me,” he says, grinning.

What’s most notable is the number of young people roaming around the market well before the crack of dawn, Chris says. The business has changed a lot since his “father’s generation,” and social media unlocked access to a new audience.

“I think people like those hidden gems and people like that fresh seafood experience,” he says.

Between rows of sea bass and salmon, the energy is buzzing. Abdul Fahwami, dressed in jeans and flip-flops, visits the fish market at least once or twice a month, depending on how many people he‘s having over at his house that week.

“Every time we come here, we buy a minimum of between 100 and 200 pounds,” he says. “Red snapper is one of the best fish.”

Branzino is a favorite among customers and employees.

He smiles as he watches employees process his fish on a long table. First, blades run against the fish scales, removing them in quick fashion. Then, there’s a swift slice across its belly, starting at a hole near the tail and ending up near the gill plate. Finally, the guts are removed and filets are cut, skin optional.

Prices change week in and week out, and depend on supply. While prices are typically 10% to 40% less than at stores, market representative Joe Castelao says the team values the “quality of our products” over “trying to cater to bargain finders.” Another advantage for customers is the ability to buy seafood in bulk, which often isn’t possible at your standard, local grocer.

On this day, there wasn’t much branzino, the fish Fahwami came early to look for. “I found only 11 pieces,” he says. “I took all of it!”

Not far away, a man named Terry Jackson waits in line; he’s wearing black overalls and swaying side to side, eager to advance.

Customer Terry Jackson at the Saturday Morning Fish Market.

“It’s definitely worth waking up a little late — or a little early, you could say,” he says. “The quality of the fish is good, plus the pricing.”

His fish of choice? “Tuna, my new favorite is tuna!” he says, proudly raising a plastic bag full of bright red filets.

Briskly pacing across the market floor are team members Mike and George Stahl, a father-son duo both wearing orange aprons and gloves.

Mike got into the seafood business about two decades ago. At the time, he lived in Florida and often purchased products from J Deluca Fish Co. By 2018, he’d moved his family out to California and started working at the market.

He says his favorite part is the variety of duties. “No two days are the same,” he says. “One day I could be selling a couple containers of squid, the next day I could be meeting face to face with someone at a conference on the other side of the country.”

Staff member George Stahl helps a patron.

He brought in his son George during the pandemic. As George explains, “We were bored and didn’t have anything to do at home so my dad said, ‘Why don’t you come down and put some boots on and start working?’”

George has become somewhat of a micro-celebrity around the market, frequently appearing in its Instagram posts. However, his time with the company might be temporary — he’s currently in school and plans to be a physical therapist at some point.

While the market is riding a wave of success, John doesn’t gloss over the grim outlook of the fishing and seafood industry as a whole. He says the industry has taken a hit over the years, between restrictions, overfishing and changing regulations.

“It’s a dying business,” John says, bleakly. “There’s very few seiners down here because it’s very difficult to make a living [fishing].

But for now, they’re able to survive. They watch as customers walk out of the market into the wee hours of the morning, proudly grasping their bags of the day’s freshest catch.

“A lot of things have gone the opposite direction,” John says. “But we’re still here.”

The fish market’s blue neon sign shines through the night.