Santiago Peña Palacios is a Paraguayan economist and politician who won the 2023 general election in Paraguay by a wide margin and is now the President-elect of the country.
He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Paraguay and as Minister of Finance.
Peña has also been a professor at the Catholic University of Asunción and has published research on monetary policy and finance.
Peña joined the Colorado Party in 2016 after being a member of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party for many years.
During his presidential campaign, Peña promised to create 500,000 jobs, but did not specify how he would achieve this.
He is against the legalization of abortion and same-sex marriage and refuses to raise taxes, despite Paraguay having an underfunded state and the lowest tax burden in South America.
Peña has been involved in several controversies, including using a soldier to hold an umbrella over him during rain, calling advisors of a former president “crooks and pedestrians” on Twitter, and taking part in a rally with a convicted money launderer.
Critics believe he will act as a mouthpiece for former President Cartes, with whom he has been closely aligned, and accuse him of building a house on land he had not paid taxes on.
In February 2023, Peña also made a controversial statement, claiming that Argentines “don’t know how to work” during a meeting in Itapúa.
Santiago Peña Children: Meet Gonzalo and Constanza Peña
Santiago is married to Leticia Oscampos, they have to children, Gonzalo and Constanza, unfortunately, there is not much information about his children.