Santiago Peña Palacios (; born 16 November 1978) is a Paraguayan politician and economist who has served as the 52nd president of Paraguay since 2023. Peña served on leadership boards for the Central Bank of Paraguay and Banco Amambay. He taught economics at the Catholic University of Asunción, and has published research papers on monetary policy and finance.
Peña is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Paraguay, and former minister of Finance of Paraguay. Peña was a member of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party beginning in 1996, until 2016 when he joined the conservative Colorado Party. He stood as a candidate in the Colorado Party's presidential primary in 2018, where he lost to Mario Abdo Benítez, who went on to be elected president in the 2018 general election. He later won the party's nomination for president in the 2023 general election, in which he ultimately won.
Early life Peña was born on 16 November 1978 in Asunción, Paraguay to José María Peña Nieto (a Paraguayan) and Ana María Palacios (an Argentine from Buenos Aires). He has two brothers: Manuel and Francisco Peña. Through his father's side he is a direct descendant of former dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, considered to be Paraguay's founding father.
Education Peña holds graduate degrees from the Universidad Católica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (2001) and the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University (2003).
Academia In 2004, Peña taught as an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of Asunción, teaching financial theory. In 2005, he became a professor of economic policy at the same establishment. 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 the Graduate School of Political Management of the George Washington University in Washington D.C., where Peña shared his experience on public administration in Paraguay. He also was the thesis advisor of Geovanny Vicente, CNN columnist and professor at Columbia University.
Early career, Minister of Finance, and first presidential run (1999–2018)
Peña joined the Industrial Development Fund as an analyst in 1999 and served as an economist at the Central Bank of Paraguay from 2000 to 2009.
He was appointed as one of the four directors of the Central Bank of Paraguay in 2012, leaving his job at the IMF.
Ministry of Finance
Horacio Cartes picked Peña to replace Germán 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.
As Minister of Finance in 2016 and 2017, Peña promoted the project to create the Superintendency of Retirements and Pensions.
Peña indicated, “There have already been situations of embezzlement with the case of the Pension Fund of the Binational Itaipú (Cajubi).”
The Itaipu Retirement and Pension Fund (Cajubi) and the Itaipu Workers' Union (STEIBI) opposed the project. In a joint press conference in November 2016, the two groups stated that they saw the plan as an “unconstitutional” violation, further describing the proposed legislation as “an imminent danger from a greedy person, who is looking for ways to extract money from people and who is the Minister of Finance.”
On May 17, 2018, Cajubi's director and legal advisor, Adelio Dolores Aquino, presented Cajubi's position against the creation of a Superintendency on the TV Unicanal's program Sin Vueltas.
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.
On December 14, 2023, Peña enacted Law 7253/23, creating the Superintendency of Retirements and Pensions in Paraguay.
Joining the Colorado Party Peña joined the conservative Colorado Party on 29 October 2016, having previously been a member of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) for 20 years since joining at 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. 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. Following this, an electoral court annulled Peña's membership to the PLRA.
2018 presidential election
In 2017, Peña ran for the Colorado Party's presidential candidacy in the 2018 general election, ultimately losing out to Mario Abdo Benítez, with Abdo Benítez winning 564,811 votes (50.93%) to Peña's 480,114 (43.29%).
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 Paraguay Horacio Cartes, for whom Peña had served as minister of finance.
Presidency (2023–present) Overview
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 president Horacio Cartes, while his opponent, , was aligned with Abdo Benítez. Critics of Peña have said that if elected president, Horacio Cartes would be a grey eminence and that Peña would merely act as a mouthpiece for Cartes, who is sanctioned by the U.S. as "significantly corrupt". Colorado Party politician Blanca Ovelar said Peña would end up acting as a "secretary" to Cartes if he was elected. 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.
Peña was elected President of Paraguay, after winning 43.9% of the vote in the 2023 general election in April, defeating his closest rival Efraín Alegre by a difference of 15 percentage points. He was congratulated by outgoing president Mario Abdo Benítez, and presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Alberto Fernández of Argentina. Peña called for unity to address the economic challenges the country is currently facing. Peña was inaugurated on 15 August 2023. 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.
On 28 September 2025, protests began in Paraguay against Peña's government. Commonly described by the media as part of the Gen Z protests, they are the first mass-scale protests in the country since 2021, with the protests being inspired by the 2025 Peruvian protests.
Formation of the government
The government of Santiago Peña began on 15 August 2023 following his election as President of Paraguay. He was sworn in as president at the age of 44, becoming the youngest president of Paraguay since the restoration of democracy in 1989, surpassing Mario Abdo Benítez, who was 46 years old at the time of his inauguration. In the first days of his term, administrative reforms aimed at the reorganization of the executive branch and the centralization of state functions were promoted. One of the main changes was the creation of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, enacted on 23 August 2023. This new ministry absorbed the functions of the defunct Ministry of Finance, the Technical Secretariat for Economic and Social Development Planning (STP), and the Secretariat of the Civil Service (SFP). Carlos Fernández Valdovinos was appointed as the first minister of this institution. Likewise, the National Directorate of Tax Revenue (DNIT) was established through the merger of the Undersecretariat of State for Taxation (SET) and the National Customs Directorate (DNA).
As for the binational entities and other key institutions, Justo Zacarías Irún was appointed acting general director of Itaipu Binacional, while Luis Federico Benítez Cuevas assumed office as acting director of the Yacyretá Binational Entity (EBY). At the National Development Bank (BNF), the presidency was assigned to Manuel Ochipinti. For her part, Liliana Alcaraz was appointed minister of the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money or Asset Laundering (Seprelad).
Presidential cabinet
Peña has stated his intention for his cabinet to be composed entirely or mostly of members of the Colorado Party. The president, vice president, and the other members of the cabinet took office on 15 August 2023. Ministries and Secretariats of the Government of Santiago PeñaPortfolioOfficeholderProfessionTermRef.Chief of CabinetLea GiménezEconomist15 August 2023 – 12 August 2024Ministry of the InteriorEnrique Riera EscuderoLawyer15 August 2023 –Ministry of Economy and FinanceCarlos Gustavo Fernández ValdovinosEconomist15 August 2023 – 2026Ministry of Foreign AffairsRubén Ramírez LezcanoEconomist and diplomat15 August 2013 –Ministry of Public Health and Social WelfareMaría Teresa BaránFamily physician and public health specialist15 August 2023 –Ministry of WomenCynthia FigueredoPublic accountant15 August 2023 –Ministry of JusticeÁngel Ramón BarchiniLawyer and notary15 August 2023 –Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social SecurityMónica RecaldeLawyer15 August 2023 –Ministry of Public Works and CommunicationsClaudia CenturiónCivil engineer15 August 2023 –Ministry of Agriculture and LivestockCarlos Alcibiades Giménez DíazVeterinarian15 August 2023 –Ministry of Industry and CommerceJavier Giménez García de ZúñigaBusiness administrator15 August 2023 –Ministry of National DefenseÓscar GonzálezArmy general15 August 2023 –Ministry of Education and SciencesLuis Fernando RamírezSociologist15 August 2023 –Ministry of Social DevelopmentMiguel Tadeo RojasBusiness administrator15 August 2023 –Ministry of Environment and Sustainable DevelopmentRolando de Barros Barreto AchaForest engineer15 August 2023 –Ministry of Urban Planning, Housing and HabitatJuan Carlos BarujaCivil engineer15 August 2023 –Ministry of Information and Communication TechnologiesGustavo VillateTechnology entrepreneur15 August 2023 –Ministry of Childhood and AdolescenceWalter Gutiérrez CabreraLawyer15 August 2023 –National Sports SecretariatCésar Ramírez CajeFormer footballer15 August 2023 –National Tourism SecretariatAngie Duarte de MelilloGraduate in marketing and administration16 August 2023 –National Secretariat of CultureAdriana Ortiz SemideiPsychologist and fashion designer15 August 2023 –National Secretariat for the Human Rights of Persons with DisabilitiesYody Marlene Ledesma15 August 2023 –National Youth SecretariatFlorencia Taboada EvreinoffInternational relations specialist and economist15 August 2023 –National Anti-Drug SecretariatJalil RachidLawyer and prosecutor15 August 2023 –National Intelligence SecretariatMarco AlcarazLawyer and prosecutor15 August 2023 –
Domestic policy Peña has expressed his preference for a "small state", focused on providing security, public health, and education, leaving the rest to the private sector.
Education In February 2022, before assuming the presidency, Peña emphasized the need to turn government plans into state policies, especially in education and health. He proposed beginning a process of educational transformation in Paraguay, focusing on improving human capital as an engine of progress.