The OAS rejects Argentina’s accusations of participating in an alleged coup in Bolivia

Amid the controversy over the arrests of Jeanine Áñez and five of her ministers, The Organization of American States (OAS) on Monday rejected Argentina’s accusations of participating in an alleged coup against former President Evo Morales.

“Since the OAS was the only multilateral organization which maintained that the constitutional mandate of the former president should be respected and that all institutions should act in accordance with the Constitution, the absolute lie of any accusation against the Organization of participating in a coup Condition is obvious, underlines the international organization in a statement.

Regarding the elections held in 2019, the OAS assures that there has been a weakening of the electoral authority. He denounces “significant changes in the composition of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), as well as in its internal structure”. And he pointed to a series within certain members of the High Court which demonstrate this weakening.

“It is important to recall as a precedent for the resignations of the TSE magistrates the countless pressures they suffered in the context of this election.. On November 21, 2018, in the weeks preceding the definition of the qualification or the disqualification of the candidates registered for the primary, the members (Dunia) Costas and (Antonio) Sandoval had presented a note of complaint to the Mediator in which they indicated that they were intimidated and asked for guarantees for the performance of their duties. On November 25, 2018, the two members also submitted a request for provisional measures to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), ”said the OAS.

The agency also denounces a “voluntary paralysis of the system of transmission of preliminary results (TREP)”. It argues that this was done intentionally, arbitrarily and without any technical basis to justify the said judgment. This was achieved when 83.76% of the documents were verified and disclosed, compared to 89.34% that had already been transmitted and were in the TREP system, according to the OAS.

The statement also said that on polling day, clandestine servers had been used to which TREP information had been intentionally hijacked. In addition, the use of the servers has been manipulated and concealed.

“The audit firm’s controls were purposely bypassed and traffic was redirected to a network that was outside the domain, administration, control and supervision of TSE personnel.. The parallel and uncontrolled technological scheme that was deliberately created facilitated an environment that allowed the manipulation of data, the theft of minutes or any maneuver, facilitated by the volatility of digital evidence, ”denounces the OAS in its press release.

In addition to the above, improper remote access to the system, unauthorized access to it, the provision of false information and a deliberate attempt to hide servers and false information about the servers in use.

The OAS also denounces that there was a fraudulent and irregular filling in of the tally sheets which affected their calculation.. According to the survey, out of a sample of 4,692 records examined, 226 were manipulated. Sensitive election material was also burned there.

The OAS also points out that the metadata of the TREP images that determine the authenticity of the images and the identification of the source of the files has not been preserved.

Other complaints filed by the Organization of American States include: iUnexplained and unauthorized entries into the system, repeated modifications of the official calculation software in the middle of the process, modification of databases.

The OAS warns that there was no adequate preservation of election evidence, nor any guarantee in the chain of custody of electoral materials.

Finally, he denounces that “the original ballot papers (not completed) were found abroad in the premises of the TSE” and “Authentication for using the computer system software was weak and allowed someone to take control with management roles“.

On the other hand, the Foreign Minister of Argentina, Felipe Solá, described as “Absolute immorality” to OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, and blamed him for the “coup,” which he says Evo Morales suffered in 2019.

“It is an absolute immoral (…) who places himself in the command of the strongest, in the command of Donald Trump (then American president), betrays all his political history and his mandates”He spoke of Almagro and his “contribution” to the “coup” taking place in Bolivia.

Morales was forced to resign from his Bolivian presidency on November 10, 2019 and has consistently accused the OAS and Almagro of supporting “the mechanisms of the coup” after the report on this year’s elections, which were overturned by allegations of fraud in your favor. .

The former Bolivian president lived for almost 11 months in Argentina, from where he led the campaign of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) with which Luis Arce won the presidency last October.

The ties between Argentina and Bolivia come from the governments of Evo Morales (2006-2019) and Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) and his wife and widow Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015) and now they are repeating this alliance with Luis Arce.

The Argentine minister, who made the statements to a Bolivian television station this Thursday evening, also attacked the transitional government of Jeanine Áñez, with whom Argentina had no relationship, and said that “he was ruling with hatred”. Solá also said that during the inauguration of the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, on March 1, 2020 in Montevideo, he refused to greet Bolivia’s Acting Foreign Minister Karen Longaric because the government of his country did not recognize her, nor did he greet Almagro because he was “ashamed of himself”.

Foreign Minister Solá arrived in La Paz, seat of government and parliament, on Wednesday evening and began his official agenda this Thursday with meetings with his Bolivian counterpart, Rogelio Mayta, the vice-president, David Choquehuanca, and the country’s president, Luis Arce. , in which they discussed different topics.

During his visit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina expressed his country’s commitment to make Bolivia part of Mercosur as a full member and announced that the issue should be discussed at the summit. of the regional bloc on March 26 in Buenos Aires. Solá, who also received the Legion of Honor Marshal Andrés de Santa Cruz, in the rank of Grand Cross, will return to his country this Friday.

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