President Santiago Peña declared this Saturday (17) that, upon ending his term on August 15, 2028, he will become a senator for life, according to the National Constitution. The statement directly contradicts the bill presented by senators of the Colorado Party, led by Basilio “Bachi” Núñez, which seeks to enable former presidents to hold elective office in the Senate.
“I want to stick to what the National Constitution says: on August 15, 2028, I will be a senator for life,” Peña said during a visit to the works on Avelino Martínez Avenue in San Lorenzo. The statement comes after the president's political base presented the proposal, which Bachi Núñez defends as constitutional.
Peña also addressed the scandal of the fake diploma of former senator Hernán Rivas, who resigned from office after the denunciation. The president stated that the National Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (Aneaes), under the direction of José Duarte, took unprecedented control measures. “We are giving visibility to something that was never dealt with before,” he said. Duarte has already stated that there is no doubt about the falsity of Rivas's law degree, but so far there is no investigation into the structure that allowed the issuance of the document.
Peña emphasized that the forgery did not occur during his government, but over the last ten years, with the creation of universities and the accreditation of non-accredited courses. “We alert citizens to also exercise control: do not pay for a degree or course from a non-accredited university,” he stressed.
Regarding former senator Erico Galeano, convicted of money laundering and criminal association in the “A Ultranza” case, Peña stated that before assuming the presidency, he had already asked him to submit to justice.