Bolivia: arrest of former interim president Jeanine Añez

Jeanine Añez was arrested.

Here, the interim Bolivian president, on March 13, 2020, at the presidential palace in La Paz.

REUTERS / David Mercado

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Former acting president of Bolivia, Jeanine Añez, targeted by an arrest warrant for "sedition" and "terrorism", was arrested on Saturday March 13 as part of the investigation into an alleged coup against the former head of state Evo Morales, announced the Bolivian Minister of the Interior.

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"I 

inform the people of Bolivia that Ms. Jeanine Añez has already been arrested and is currently in the hands of the police,

 " said Carlos Eduardo del Castillo, in a message posted on Twitter and Facebook.

Informo al pueblo boliviano that the señora Jeanine Añez ya fue apprehendida y en este momento will be encuentra en manos de la Policía. # Justicia

- Carlos Eduardo Del Castillo Del Carpio (@EDelCastilloDC) March 13, 2021

The former conservative president, at the head of the country from November 2019 to November 2020, had herself posted on Twitter on Friday a photo of the

arrest warrant

issued by the prosecution, accompanied by the comment: " 

The political persecution has started

 ".

The political persecution ha comenzado.

El MAS ha decidido volver a los estilos de la dictadura.

Una pena porque Bolivia no necesita dictadores, necesita libertad y soluciones.



Pueden descarga la denuncia con la que pretenden perseguirnos: https://t.co/eVQKCMtcui

- Jeanine Añez Chavez (@JeanineAnez) March 12, 2021

Before her, two former members of the government had been arrested in the city of Trinidad (northeast), the ex-ministers of Energy and Justice, Rodrigo Guzman and Alvaro Coimbra, according to images broadcast by local televisions.

Complaint against ministers

The investigation opened by the prosecution follows a complaint filed in December by a former member of the party of Evo Morales, Lidia Patty.

The former parliamentarian of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) accuses Jeanine Añez, former ministers, military officials and police officers of having overthrew Evo Morales in November 2019.

She filed a complaint for " 

sedition

 ", " 

terrorism

 " and " 

conspiracy

 ".

The arrest warrant concerns several other ministers of the interim government: Yerko Nuñez, in the Presidency, Arturo Murillo, in the Interior, and Luis Fernando López, in Defense.

The latter two left the country in November.

It also targets former military commanders William Kaliman and Sergio Orellana, as well as former police chief Yuri Calderon.

Following the October 2019 presidential election, in which Evo Morales was running for a fourth term, and the confusion surrounding the results giving him the winner, the opposition cried out fraud.

An explosion of violence across the country followed these elections, which were ultimately canceled.

Against the backdrop of demonstrations that had left 35 dead, the police and the army had withdrawn their support for Evo Morales.

The latter finally resigned before taking

the path of exile

in Mexico and then in Argentina.

Jeanine Añez, second vice-president of the Senate, was

sworn in

on November 12, 2019. Evo Morales's party then denounced a “coup”.

Evo Morales then returned to his country after the victory of his dolphin Luis Arce in the presidential election in October 2020. Investigators from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) are currently in Bolivia to investigate the end violence. 2019.

(

with

AFP

)

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