Peña himself had about $1m in shares he bought in 2019 in a company that would become Ueno Holding in 2022, the parent company of the conglomerate that controlled Ueno Bank. Even after becoming president, he only disposed of the shares in April 2025. He said he had bought them purely as an “investor”.

“During Peña’s administration, Ueno began receiving various benefits, and the government relaxed the rules to allow public funds to be invested in the bank,” said Chamorro. An estimated $800m to $860m in state and pension funds were invested in Ueno.

A series of internal central bank reports pointing to irregularities – including loans to companies within the same group – were revealed by local media in recent months but Peña dismissed them as a “false media campaign” against his government.

This makes me have no trouble believing this line:

one of Donald Trump’s key allies in the region