Former Bolivian President, Jeanine Áñez, was transferred from her jail cell at the La Paz Women’s Jail to a hospital on Friday. She had only been detained for five days out of her four month of preventative detention before she reported declining health. Áñez, age 53, reported being unable to eat and vomiting.
On 13 March 2021, Áñez was arrested and charged of terrorism, sedition, and conspiracy along with five other members of her party. She has also been accused by critics of inciting a coup, corruption, and human rights violations. The next day she was ordered to four months in pre-trial detention. She denies the allegations and claims that she is a victim of political persecution. She claims she took over by constitutional succession.
There were conflicting reports on 19 March 2021 that Áñez had started a hunger strike. On Friday she reported that her inability to eat was not due to a hunger strike.
On Monday night, 15 March 2021, protests broke out in at least four Bolivian cities protesting the arrest of Áñez and accusations of a coup. Her arrest has drawn criticism from the far-right in Bolivia. Thousands of people attended these protests
Áñez was a politician, lawyer, evangelical and a member of Bolivia’s far-right Unidad Natcional alliance party. Formally she was elected as second vice president of the senate in 2019 and fourth in succession to the presidency. Protests erupted in Bolivia in 2019 in response to accusations of electoral fraud and claims by opponents that leftist President Evo Morales stole his fourth term and reelection after nearly 14 years in office. A fourth term defied the country’s term limits. Morales, indigenous leader of the Movement for Socialism or MAS party, resigned under moral pressure and was forced out of the country in November 2019. He remained in exile until November 2020. All constitutional successors resigned and Áñez was declared the acting president by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly in Bolivia on 12 November 2019 despite a boycott by the MAS party who deemed it illegal.
Áñez’s presidency was recognized by several foreign nations including the governments of the United States, the European Union, Russia, Canada and Brazil. However the removal of Morales was criticized by human rights groups including the Organization of American States (OAS).
Áñez served as interim president from 12 November 2019 to 9 November 2020 during a period of unrest in Bolivia including the 2019 Protests as well as the Senkata and Sacaba massacres where police opened fire on civilians protesting the election. Each of those two massacres resulted in nine deaths. During the post-election protests over 35 protesters and Morales supporters were killed, hundreds injured and over 1,500 detained in post-election violence. Her presidency resulted in many claims of human rights violations. State-agents were also found responsible from an independent report from the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School and the University Network for Human Rights.
In the October 2020 election the MAS party won by 55% and Morales’ hand picked successor, Luis Arce, became president. Morales claims that the allegations of election fraud in November 2019 were never proven.
Earlier in the week Mexico’s foreign ministry had called for the OAS to stay out of Bolivia’s internal affairs and “to refrain from kaing unilateral pronouncements in the name of all member-states”.
AK Wilson – Freelance journalist based out of the United States
