The wheel turns in Bolivia.
Former President Evo Morales demanded, Saturday, March 13, "sanctions" against those who had driven him from power in November 2019. First person targeted: the opponent Jeanine Añez, who had succeeded him at the head of Bolivia .
The right-wing senator, who had played a key role in the impeachment of Morales, was arrested on Saturday after the issuance of an arrest warrant for "sedition" and "terrorism".
Bolivian television showed images of the former leader on her arrival, not handcuffed, at El Alto airport in La Paz, in the presence of the Minister of the Interior and several police officers.
She immediately described her detention as "illegal" to the press.
On social networks, the former conservative president, at the head of the country from November 2019 to November 2020, denounced an "abusive act and political persecution".
The government "accuses me of having participated in a coup that never took place," reacted on Twitter Jeanine Añez, whose place of detention was not disclosed.
The day before, the authorities had deployed a police contingent in front of his residence in the Amazonian town of Trinidad, 600 kilometers from the capital.
Getting started with the Bible
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 followed the ballot, which was finally canceled.
Second Vice-President of the Senate, Jeanine Añez had taken office, Bible in hand and wrapped in the presidential sash, thanks to a vacancy in power caused by the chain resignations of Evo Morales and his constitutional successors.
The Constitutional Court had validated his election.
The first native president, then a refugee in Mexico before fleeing to Argentina, denounced "the most astute and most heinous coup in history".
Broken promise
At the head of the interim government from November 2019 to November 2020, Jeanine Añez had promised upon taking office to call general elections "as soon as possible", within a few months, but the poll had to be postponed several times , in particular due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Contrary to her promise, she finally announced her presidential candidacy in January 2020, sparking criticism from her opponents on the left, but also from her own allies on the right.
She ended up giving up in the face of unfavorable polls which placed her in fourth position behind the left-wing candidate and runner-up to Evo Morales, Luis Arce, the centrist Carlos Mesa and the ultraconservative regionalist leader of Santa Cruz (south-east), Luis Fernando Camacho.
After the victory in the first round of the socialist Luis Arce in October 2020, she recognized the defeat of her camp: "I congratulate the winners and I ask them to govern while thinking of Bolivia and democracy."
With AFP
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