Constanza Peña has gone silent on social media after her gym selfie ignited a firestorm.
The 21-year-old Columbia University student, daughter of ousted Paraguay President Santiago Peña, set her Instagram account to private after a mirror photo of her wearing a white “T.T.P Tax The Poor” T-shirt spread across platforms Thursday. The image, originally posted to her Instagram Stories where she had just 152 followers, showed her posing in workout gear with the provocative slogan on full display.
The timing could hardly have been worse. The photo surfaced the same day her father’s political career collapsed amid a national banking crisis that has devastated ordinary Paraguayans. The country’s central bank seized Ueno Bank on Tuesday after the digital lender, which had become Paraguay’s fifth-largest in just five years, suffered a catastrophic failure. Nearly 3 million customers, including retirees, found themselves locked out of their accounts overnight.
Outrage poured onto @columbia_confessions_, an anonymous student-run Instagram account where critics connected her flaunted privilege directly to her father’s downfall. “As someone who comes from a very privilege family,” one student wrote, “I find it genuinely embarrassing to see this Class of ’28 girl having worn and posted herself in a ‘tax the poor tshirt, especially when her father is being investigated for stealing millions from citizens who have now lost everything.”
The same commenter continued: “It’s so unbelievably tacky to flaunt wealth while having no regard for people who have far less (especially when they’re the reason you have money).”
Another Columbia student demanded the university distance itself from Peña entirely. “Allowing someone who publicly displays such contempt for the poor to represent its academic community undermines the institution’s reputation and values,” the Instagrammer wrote. “Her recent social media post featuring a T-shirt that reads ‘Tax the poor’ is deeply offensive and raises questions about her judgement and values.”
A third commenter claimed personal stakes in the scandal, writing that their family had lost all their savings in the Ueno Bank collapse. “The girl may not be at fault for all the financial decisions of her family,” they posted, “but constantly mocking the poor when we are the ones they benefit from is absurd and it cannot go unnoticed.”
The banking crisis continues to unfold with painful consequences. While central bank deposit insurance technically covers up to 223 million Paraguayan guaraníes (about $38,000) for at least 97% of Ueno’s depositors, customers remain unable to withdraw or transfer funds. The central bank has announced that clients will eventually receive up to 10 million guaraníes (roughly $1,700), minus any debts they owe, though no date was given. At least 33,000 retirees will have their pension checks rerouted to a different institution.
Santiago Peña’s fall came swiftly. Congress rejected his attempted resignation, with the lower house voting instead to impeach him and the Senate agreeing to proceed. By Friday, senators voted to remove him from office entirely. Vice President Pedro Alliana was sworn in as president to lead the South American nation through the mounting turmoil.
The “Tax The Poor” shirt itself appears to be a deliberate provocation, though its exact origin and whether Peña understood the context remain unclear. What is known is that she posted it voluntarily to an account with a small, presumably curated following, never anticipating the viral exposure that followed her father’s political implosion.
Neither Peña nor Columbia University has spoken publicly since the image exploded. The university cited student privacy restrictions in declining to comment, while Peña did not respond to requests for comment through her now-private account.
Alliana takes office with no clear timeline for when Ueno Bank customers will regain full access to their frozen funds.