Manuela Tobias and Ignacio Olivera Doll

November 7, 2026 — 7:30pm

Officials at the Inter-American Development Bank’s investment arm suspected something was off almost as soon as they walked through the doors of Paraguay’s Ueno Bank SA.

The sleek office building in Asunción, dubbed “The Matrix”, was overcrowded with young employees. The glass panels, polished wood and fancy art seemed better suited to a cash-rich start-up than a business that catered to some of the country’s poorest people.

Protesters in Paraguay’s capital city, Asunción, burn an effigy depicting President Santiago Pena, days after the country’s central bank took over Ueno Bank over a solvency crisis.…