The Chamber of Deputies rejected two requests for information addressed to President Santiago Peña on Tuesday, March 16 — one regarding the expenses of his trip to the United States to attend the Albirroja's debut at the 2026 World Cup, and another concerning the Comptroller General's Office's review of the president's asset declarations.
The proposal requesting details on the trip's cost was submitted by Deputy Adrián "Billy" Vaesken (PLRA, Radical Front). The request included the hourly fuel cost and airport fees, daily allowances per day and per person, security hired in the U.S., expenses for restaurants, lodging, food, transportation, and even the ticket to SoFi Stadium, where Paraguay and the United States faced off on Friday, March 13.
Vaesken criticized what he considered an extravagance incompatible with the country's reality. "We are a developing country; we cannot spend such an amount of money on luxuries while people here are dying because hospitals lack medicines and tests," he said. The deputy added that Paraguayan society does not perceive the exponential growth declared by the president and that many trained professionals work as shelf stackers or supermarket cashiers.
The leader of the Honor Colorado bloc, Miguel Del Puerto, opposed both requests without providing detailed justifications. The Cartista majority in the Chamber of Deputies sent the proposals to the archives.
The second rejected request asked the Comptroller General's Office for a full copy of the correspondence review of Peña's sworn declarations, a document that reportedly concluded there was "consistency" in the president's assets — which grew by 2,400% in just six years. Deputy Raúl Benítez (Independent) compared the Cartista parliamentarians to "servants" who serve at Peña's table, alongside Comptroller Camilo Benítez Aldana and Attorney General Emiliano Rolón.
Benítez denounced what he called a "closed collusion" and reproached the submission of the Chamber of Deputies, which, according to him, abdicates its oversight role. "To this day, in a serious country, the president should be in jail. The names of his accomplices will remain on record," he said.
Among the points not clarified by the Comptroller General's Office is how it was deemed regular for Peña to acquire a mansion valued at US$900,000 in San Bernardino, supposedly partly financed by a loan from the government's so-called "friendly bank," granted even though the president did not yet hold the property title to the land.
Deputy Rocío Vallejo (Partido Patria Querida) mocked Peña's return to the country and suggested that the president take advantage of his stay to appoint an attorney general, a position that has been vacant with an irregular interim for over ten months.
During the session, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Raúl Latorre, arrived late — he had also attended the match at SoFi Stadium to watch the Paraguayan national team's game.