Santiago Peña | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Peña in 2025 | |
| 52nd President of Paraguay | |
| Assumed office 15 August 2023 | |
| Vice President | Pedro Alliana |
| Preceded by | Mario Abdo Benítez |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 5 January 2015 – 5 June 2017 | |
| President | Horacio Cartes |
| Preceded by | Germán Rojas |
| Succeeded by | Lea Giménez |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Santiago Peña Palacios (1978-11-16)16 November 1978 (age 47) Asunción, Paraguay |
| Political party | Colorado (since 2016) |
| Other political affiliations | PLRA (1996–2016) |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Mburuvicha Róga |
| Education | Catholic University of Asunción Columbia University (MA)[2] |
| Profession | Politician, Economist |
| Signature |  |
| Website | santipresidente.com (redirected toFacebook page as of May 2025) |
Santiago Peña Palacios (Spanish pronunciation:[sanˈtjaɣoˈpeɲapaˈlasjos]; born 16 November 1978) is a Paraguayan politician and economist who has served as the 52ndpresident of Paraguay since 2023. Peña served on leadership boards for the Central Bank of Paraguay andBanco Amambay.[3] He taught economics at theCatholic University of Asunción, and has published research papers on monetary policy and finance.[4]
Peña is a former member of the Board of Directors of theCentral Bank of Paraguay, and formerminister of Finance of Paraguay.[5] He previously stood as a candidate in theColorado Party's presidential primary in 2018, where he lost toMario Abdo Benítez, who went on to be elected president in the2018 general election. He later won the party's nomination for president in the2023 general election, in which he ultimately won.[6][7] Peña was a member of theAuthentic Radical Liberal Party between 1996 and 2016, when he joined the Colorado Party.[5]
Peña was born on 16 November 1978 inAsunción, Paraguay to José María Peña Nieto (aParaguayan) and Ana María Palacios (anArgentine fromBuenos Aires).[8] He has two brothers: Manuel and Francisco Peña.[9] Through his father's side he is a direct descendant of former dictatorDr. José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, considered to be Paraguay's founding father.[10]
Peña holds graduate degrees fromUniversidad Católica "Nuestra Señora de la Asunción" (2001) and theSchool of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University (2003).[11][12]
In 2004, Peña taught as an adjunct professor at theCatholic University of Asunción, teaching financial theory. In 2005, he became a professor of economic policy at the same establishment.[4]In addition, Peña has contributed to scholarship on monetary policy and finance. In 2017, he was invited by the Professor and current Ecuadorian ambassador to Chile Roberto Izurieta to participate as a visiting professor at theGraduate School of Political Management of theGeorge Washington University, where Peña shared his experience on public administration in Paraguay.[13] He also was the thesis advisor ofGeovanny Vicente,CNN columnist and professor atColumbia University.[14][15]
Peña joined the Industrial Development Fund as an analyst in 1999 and served as an economist at theCentral Bank of Paraguay from 2000 to 2009.[11]
He was appointed as one of the four directors of the Central Bank of Paraguay in 2012, leaving his job at theIMF.[16]
Horacio Cartes picked Peña to replaceGermán Rojas as finance minister in 2015, following Rojas's resignation on personal grounds. As Peña took office, Cartes described him as a "bright young man" who would reinvigorate Paraguay's economy in the face of low global soy prices and a slow regional export market.[16]
AsMinister of Finance in 2016 and 2017, Peña promoted the project to create the Superintendency of Retirements and Pensions.[17]
Peña indicated, “There have already been situations of embezzlement with the case of the Pension Fund of theBinational Itaipú (Cajubi).”[18]
The Itaipu Retirement and Pension Fund (Cajubi) and the Itaipu Workers' Union (STEIBI) opposed the project.[19]
As President, Peña continued to advocate for the creation of the Superintendency of Retirement and Pensions, arguing that it was necessary to prevent problems like the Cajubi case.“At some point, we will probably also have to pay for the embezzlement of the Itaipu Retirement Fund (Cajubi), which is another case, and that's because there isn't a public entity that is constitutionally obligated to do so,” he stated.[20]
On December 14, 2023, Peña enacted Law 7253/23, creating the Superintendency of Retirements and Pensions in Paraguay.[21]
Peña joined the Colorado Party on 29 October 2016, having previously been a member of theAuthentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) from the age of 17. Peña's membership in the Colorado Party caused controversy, with reports that he only joined the party after Horacio Cartes announced his intention to dismiss members of his cabinet who were not party members.[5] Peña released a statement stating he had joined the party due to its focus on developing Paraguay, and claimed to be the descendent of one of the party's founders, Jaime Peña.[22] Following this, an electoral court annulled Peña's membership to the PLRA.[23]
In 2017, Peña ran for the Colorado Party's presidential candidacy in the 2018 general election, ultimately losing out toMario Abdo Benítez,[24] with Abdo Benítez winning 564,811 votes (50.93%) to Peña's 480,114 (43.29%).[25]
Following his defeat in the Colorado Party's internal elections in 2017, Peña was elected to the board of Banco Amambay in March 2018. The bank was part of the Cartes Group, which was owned by former President of ParaguayHoracio Cartes, for whom Peña had served as minister of finance.[3]
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In 2022, Peña ran successfully to stand as the Colorado Party's presidential candidate; he was widely seen as the candidate most closely aligned to former presidentHoracio Cartes, while his opponent,Arnoldo Wiens [es], was aligned with Abdo Benítez.[26][27] Critics of Peña have said that if elected president, Horacio Cartes would be agrey eminence and that Peña would merely act as a mouthpiece for Cartes, who is sanctioned by the U.S. as "significantly corrupt". Colorado Party politicianBlanca Ovelar said Peña would end up acting as a "secretary" to Cartes if he was elected.[28] Cartes and his supporters in Congress had previously attempted to pass a constitutional amendment to allow Cartes to run for re-election,sparking riots in the country.[29][30]
Peña was electedPresident of Paraguay, after winning 43.9% of the vote in the2023 general election in April, defeating his closest rivalEfraín Alegre by a difference of 15 percentage points. He was congratulated by outgoing presidentMario Abdo Benítez, and presidentsLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil andAlberto Fernández of Argentina.[31] Peña called for unity to address the economic challenges the country is currently facing. Peña was inaugurated on 15 August 2023.[32] At 44 years old, he became Paraguay's youngest president since the restoration of democracy in 1989, surpassing Abdo Benítez, who was 46 when he assumed the role in 2018.[33]
On 28 September 2025,protests began in Paraguay against Peña's government.[34] Commonly described by the media as part of theGen Z protests, they are the first mass-scale protests in the country since2021, with the protests being inspired by the2025 Peruvian protests.[35]
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By the time of the 2023 election, Peña was considered aconservative politician who opposes the legalization ofabortion andsame-sex marriage.[36] In May 2017, however, he had stated that he was in favor of same-sex marriage, while saying in regards of abortion that he was open for it to "be discussed in a sincere environment and without prejudice".[37] He reversed position shortly afterwards following criticism from conservative sectors.[38] During his 2023 campaign, he promised to create 500,000 jobs. He also ruled out raising taxes.[36]
On foreign policy, Peña pledged to maintain Paraguay's diplomatic relations with theRepublic of China (Taiwan).[31] In May 2023, Peña announced that he intended to move the Paraguayan embassy inIsrael fromTel Aviv toJerusalem after being sworn in as president;[39] a move that was previously made byHoracio Cartes in 2018 but reversed byMario Abdo Benítez later that year.[40] Peña eventually attended the inauguration of said embassy in December 2024.[41] Peña and his government expressed vocal support for Israel during theGaza war and theIran–Israel war,[42][43][44] with Paraguay siding with Israel duringSouth Africa's genocide case against Israel.[45]
As president, Paraguay restored diplomatic relations withVenezuela in November 2023; relations were strained since 2019.[46] Relations between the two nations were broken again in February 2025, however, after Peña recognizedEdmundo González as the winner of the2024 Venezuelan presidential election.[47]
In February 2023, Peña said in an interview withFolha de S.Paulo that themilitary dictatorship ofAlfredo Stroessner had resulted in "more than 50 years of stability in Paraguay".[48] He further asserted that Stroessner, who came to power as a result of acoup d'état, had come to a power as a result of a "political agreement".[49] Peña's comments were criticised by opposition politicians and activists, and he was accused of trying to attract conservative andultraconservative voters within the Colorado Party.[50]
Brazil:
São Paulo:
Grand Cross of theOrder of Ipiranga (26 July 2023)[51]In April 2025, Peña was awarded the AJC Gesher Award from theAmerican Jewish Committee in recognition of his support of Israel.[52]
Members of the Colorado Party…were unconvinced that Pena's slick city appearance and time in Washington would go down well with voters and he lost out to current president Mario Abdo Benitez in the 2018 primary election contest.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 2015–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of Paraguay 2023–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Mario Abdo Benítez | Colorado nominee for President of Paraguay 2023 | Most recent |
