Former rector of the National University of Asunción (UNA), Froilán Enrique Peralta Torres regained his freedom on Thursday, September 3, 2026, after serving a three-year sentence for breach of trust. María Lidia Wyder Mendieta, the judge for the Specialized Enforcement Court for Economic Crimes, Corruption and Organized Crime of the Capital, declared the sentence completed and ordered the lifting of the restrictions linked to the conviction.
Peralta, 73, was convicted on August 8, 2022, by a panel of judges in Fernando de la Mora. The ruling identified a loss of G. 1,154,401,733 to the university during his tenure as rector. The conviction was upheld by the Central Court of Appeals in March 2023, and the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice declared the defense appeal inadmissible in June of that year.
After remaining a fugitive, the former rector turned himself in to the police on November 9, 2023. He spent approximately three months in a penitentiary. In February 2024, a court decision allowed him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, taking his age into account. The end date, September 3, 2026, had already been set by the enforcement court in November 2023.
Thursday’s decision also ordered notices to be sent to the National Police, the General Directorate of Migration and the Superior Court of Electoral Justice, followed by the closing of the sentence-enforcement case.
The case is linked to the crisis that hit UNA in September 2015. Under the slogan “UNA, do not remain silent” — UNA no te calles — students occupied the San Lorenzo campus and denounced irregularities in appointments, the allocation of teaching positions, salaries and the management of public resources. The protests spread to other faculties, pressured Peralta to leave office and became a landmark in student participation in Paraguay.
The ruling concludes enforcement of this specific conviction, but does not erase the fact recognized by the courts or the amount of the loss established in the case. During the protests, students described the three-year sentence as insufficient in light of the accusations that had triggered the institutional crisis.