Credit, Reuters
In a matter of hours, Pedro Alliana went from vice president of Paraguay to president of the country.
Alliana took office this Friday (06/11), shortly after Congress approved the dismissal of Santiago Peña, accused of conflict of interest due to his ties with the conglomerate that manages Banco Ueno.
The Central Bank intervened this week in the private financial institution after detecting solvency problems. The decision left millions of Paraguayans and several public institutions without access to their savings.
On the streets of Asunción, hundreds of people celebrated the Senate's decision that ended Peña's mandate. On the same day of his impeachment, the former president was arrested at his home, in the capital, Asunción.
"Our fellow citizens who are going through a difficult time today because of the financial collapse will be fully compensated. We will not abandon them," Alliana announced this Friday in her inauguration speech before Congress.
But power did not change hands. The National Republican Association (ANR), known as the Colorado Party, managed to contain the political impact of the crisis.
"I thank my party and reaffirm my loyalty to its doctrinal principles", emphasized the new president, amid a round of applause from the senators present in the chamber.
Far from losing the Presidency, the party managed to maintain power by replacing Peña with Alliana, a leader of the Colorado Party who had already expressed his intention to run for office in 2028.
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"Pedro Alliana is a political figure with a long history in the party," Rocío Duarte, PhD in Political Sciences and professor at the Catholic University of Asunción, told the BBC.
While former president Peña represented the technocrat specialized in finance, Alliana was always seen within the party as ensuring close connection with the base and members of the Colorado Party.
According to Duarte, Alliana is a leader who knows the "bureaucratic structure of the party" across the country, which has allowed him to consolidate his position as a figure of great influence in national politics.
But what was the political trajectory that took him from the extreme south of Paraguay to the Presidency of the Republic?
The path to the Presidency
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"I come from Ñeembucú, a land where the nation fought for its own existence," said the new president this Friday.
Pedro Alliana was born in Pilar, a city where reddish-brown streets and old adobe colonial churches overlook the Paraguay River, opposite the Argentine province of Formosa.
It was in this city in the extreme south of Paraguay, far from the centers of power and more accustomed to looking at the river than at the López Palace, that he began the political trajectory that, decades later, would lead him to the Presidency.
The son of a family with political connections, he joined the ranks of the Colorado Party at a young age, the conservative force that dominated much of Paraguayan political history.
Unlike Peña, whose academic background and technical career were widely recognized, Alliana's education was shrouded in controversy.
ABC Color newspaper reported that he studied International Relations at the Autonomous University of San Sebastián, after verifying his credentials with the Ministry of Education.
According to the party's official website, Alliana defines himself as a "man of the land". The organization highlighted, a few years ago, its understanding of the needs of small, medium and large producers.
His political career began in 2006, when he unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Pilar. Far from removing him from politics, this defeat ended up boosting his rise.
Two years later, he became governor of Ñeembucú, the department where Pilar is located, in the same year that the Colorado Party lost the presidency of Paraguay for the first time in its history.
After completing his term as governor, Alliana made the leap to Congress. He was elected deputy in 2013 and quickly consolidated his influence within the governing party.
He came to preside over the Chamber of Deputies and renewed his term for a second period, solidifying his position as one of the most influential leaders of the Colorado Party.
In this way, Alliana built a career over the years based on grassroots organization, which took him from the political periphery of Ñeembucú to the top of the Colorado Party.
"The Paraguay that we inherited today has urgent needs that force us to be on the streets, in hospitals and in the countryside", he declared this Friday before the Senate.
The relationship with Cartes
At a time of delicate political stability, several voices in Paraguay agree that Alliana would not have reached the Presidency without the approval of former president Horacio Cartes.
"Alliana has been closely linked to former president Cartes since he entered politics, becoming part of his inner circle", explains Rocío Duarte.
However, a few weeks ago, Alliana appeared to have distanced herself from Cartes.
According to Alliana, the departure occurred when Horacio Cartes tried to impose his vice on the presidential ticket.
However, after Peña's fall, the situation changed. On Thursday afternoon, the then vice president reappeared alongside Cartes at a party meeting, where both supported the impeachment process against the president.
"As Cartes managed to stay away from the Banco Ueno crisis, it is likely that there will be a rapprochement between these factions", adds Duarte.
Now, with the Presidency in her hands, Alliana's immediate challenge will be to deal with the crisis triggered by the closure of Banco Ueno.
Perhaps this will help him build a leadership that allows the ANR to recover in record time and be well positioned for the 2028 elections.
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