Bolivia: Áñez is serving a year in prison between polarization and controversy

The way that Jeanine Añez came to the Presidency of bolivia In 2019, she has been in preventive detention for a year, during which time both her legal situation and her health have faced opposition sectors, who see her as “a trophy of the ruling party”, and the Government, which points out that she is involved. in what they consider to be a “coup d’état”.

The imprisonment of the former interim president has fueled the latent polarization in the country every time the events of 2019 are touched upon, as has been seen throughout this year when each of the parties took to the streets, sometimes with clashes, to defend his position.

In her defense, Áñez has asserted several times that what corresponds to her is a trial of responsibilities since her arrival in the Government was constitutional and was endorsed by laws that were approved with the parliamentary majority of the Movement for Socialism (MAS).

A “trophy” and a “chase”

“My mother is a political trophy of Evo Morales” and this has been a “very hard year, a year of injustice,” the daughter of former interim president Carolina Ribera told Efe.

The accusations against Áñez have focused mainly on events prior to her assuming the Presidency, when she was second vice president of the Senate, for crimes of terrorism, sedition, conspiracy, breach of duties and resolutions against the Constitution that make up the cases “coup d’état I and II”.

Ribera considered that the arrest of his mother is due to an “invention” of the Government when he speaks of a “coup d’état” and that deep down in the MAS “they will never forgive him” for having occupied the position of Evo Morales , who resigned from the Presidency of the country after the protests against him.

“There could not be a power vacuum” and “the only one left was my mother” and “she assumed that responsibility,” said Ribera, referring to the block resignation of the president and vice president, in addition to the heads of the Senate and the House of Deputies during that crisis.

Áñez’s situation in a prison in La Paz has been marked by health problems, hypertension, nervous breakdowns and depression, with moments in which she caused injuries or the hunger strike that she held for more than two weeks to demand her death. Liberty.

Accusation of “unconstitutionality”

For the Government of Luis Arce, of the MAS, the conditions in which Áñez came to the Presidency were the product of a “coup d’état”.

“It is very clear that the lady (Áñez) committed crimes,” Hugo Moldiz, who was a minister during the Evo Morales government and who remained at the Mexican embassy in La Paz for almost a year along with other former state authorities, told EFE. waiting for a pass.

Moldiz mentioned that Áñez, as the second vice president of the Senate, transgressed the regulations of that Chamber and the Constitution that establish that the Presidency must fall to the “majority force”, that is, to the MAS.

In addition, he assured that Áñez was part of a “conspiracy plan” by the opposition to prevent someone from the ruling party from occupying the main position of the State, referring to the meetings that took place in 2019, after the resignation of Evo Morales to the Presidency, between political leaders, the Catholic Church and international organizations.

Moldiz also asserted that one of the reasons why Áñez is in pre-trial detention is because “she was found hidden” and with the “clear intention of obstructing law enforcement,” one of the Justice’s reasons for denying her defend yourself freely.

On the other hand, the legal cases against Áñez that must be approved by Parliament are pending, in which two thirds of the vote is needed with the approval of the opposition despite the fact that the MAS has the majority.

The most important case has to do with the cataloged “massacres” of Sacaba and Senkata in 2019, in which more than twenty civilians died in clashes against the security forces, when Áñez had already assumed the Presidency.

Moldiz considered that “for the good of the country” it is necessary to “close” that stage of history with a sentence based on the evidence available.

For her part, Áñez’s daughter assured that “all instances in Bolivia” will be exhausted and then seek justice before “international instances.”

“My mother will never accept the trial by ordinary means (…) the truth will come to light,” he concluded.

In addition, some opposition sectors maintain that if Jeanine Áñez is prosecuted, former President Morales must also be prosecuted for the events that occurred after the failed 2019 elections.