"An exemplary sanction": this is what the acting president of Bolivia wants against the former head of state Evo Morales. In a meeting with the foreign press, Friday, November 15, Jeanine Añez said that the resigning president, "party of himself" for Mexico, should "answer to justice" irregularities in the presidential election of 20 October and corruption charges "in case of return to the country.
Three days after declaring herself acting president, Jeanine Añez, a 52-year-old lawyer, raised her voice. "Evo Morales should receive an exemplary sanction because Bolivians do not deserve to go through all this when they had so much trouble to have democracy," said the former right-wing senator at the BBC. And it is committed to "organize elections (presidential and legislative, Ed) transparent".
Evo Morales assured to be ready to return to Bolivia to "pacify" his country. He said Friday in an interview with Reuters that the United States had offered him a plane to leave Bolivia, leaving him the choice of the destination. "I was sure it was going to be Guantanamo," said Morales with a smile.
Since Evo Morales announced his resignation on Sunday, his supporters are showing their anger, convinced that his departure is due to a "coup" fomented by the opposition. Every day, demonstrations are organized, especially in La Paz. "Evo, come back!", Waving wiphalas, the multicolored native Andean flag, several thousand people descended from the neighboring city of El Alto were once again on the streets of the capital, said AFP Friday.
Venezuelan diplomats deported
Jeanine Añez has appointed an interim government, whose oath she has received before a cross, candles and an open Bible. Seeking to imprint her brand, she wants to break the fraternal relations between Evo Morales and the Latin American left-wing governments - Cuba and Venezuela in the lead.
Foreign Minister Karen Longaric on Friday announced the forthcoming expulsion of all Venezuelan diplomatic staff who "represent the government of (Nicolas) Maduro" because he has "interfered" in internal affairs of the Andean country.
The day before, the government of Jeanine Añez had recognized the opponent Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela, as well as fifty other countries, including the United States. A highly symbolic measure, given the links between Evo Morales and the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013).
In the same vein, Bolivia will leave the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (Alba) which includes Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and several Caribbean countries, and Unasur, created in 2008 on the initiative Hugo Chavez and his Brazilian counterpart at the time, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Cuba, for its part, denounced the arrest of four of its citizens in Bolivia, accused in a "slanderous" way of financing the demonstrations against the new government of Jeanine Añez. The latter announced that Cuba would repatriate "725 Cuban citizens who fulfill tasks of cooperation in different sectors".
With AFP and Reuters