Bolivia: they ask for six months of prevention …

The Attorney General of Bolivia asked this Sunday for the six-month preventive detention of former de facto president Jeanine Áñez, arrested this Saturday in Trinidad, capital of the Amazonian department of Beni, for her participation in the coup against former President Evo Morales in 2019.

Over the weekend, his former ministers of justice, Álvaro Coimbra, and energy, Rodrigo Guzmán, were also detained in Trinidad, who, like Áñez, were airlifted to La Paz for questioning.

This Sunday, the prosecution published the indictment for “sedition, terrorism and conspiracy” against the three detainees and asked Áñez to remain in preventive detention for at least six months during the investigation, considering that there is a risk of escape and the possibility of influencing other parties or witnesses.

The request, which is due to be resolved by a precautionary judge in the coming hours, concerns former ministers Álvaro Coímbra and Rodrigo Guzmán, for whom detention in a penitentiary is requested.

Áñez’s situation

This Saturday, the former interim president refused to testify to the prosecution after being transferred from the facilities of the Special Force against Crime (Felcc) from the seat of government.

The day before his arrest, Áñez assured on his Twitter account that it was a case of “political persecution”. “The MAS (Movement for Socialism, ruling party) has decided to return to the styles of dictatorship. Too bad because Bolivia does not need dictators, it needs freedom and solutions,” he said. then declared on social networks.

Seeking international support, in the last hours, according to the Bolivian newspaper La Razón, Áñez sent letters to the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union (EU). The ex-president, said the morning, hopes the agencies will send missions to the country to intervene in her situation.

One of the letters is addressed to OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, who has yet to comment on Áñez’s arrest. The other letter is addressed to the Ambassador of the European Delegation in Bolivia, Michael Doczy.

The main opposition parties, who deny that there was a coup in November 2019, they condemned the arrest and demanded that Áñez be tried by Parliament and not by ordinary courts.

The Justice Ministry, Iván Lima, for his part, rejected the charges of “political persecution” and opposition complaints that there is political treatment of the prosecution. Explained that Áñez is not entitled to a judgment of responsibilities or privilege due to his condition of ex-ruler – where the Attorney General’s office asks Parliament to authorize the trial, then it takes place before the Supreme Court of Justice -, but an ordinary process for his actions as a senator, before assuming the first magistracy.

In the meantime, the UN, the United States and the European Union (EU) have called for due process guarantees to be upheld and for all legal procedures to be transparent.

At the head of a coup

Áñez came to power following the forced resignation of Evo Morales in November 2019 amid strong protests after an election labeled as fraudulent by the opposition and the Organization of American States (OAS). He was in office until November 2020, when the current president, Luis Arce, took office.

According to the prosecution, Áñez assumed the presidency in a “rigged” way since she was still second vice-president of the Senate.

Áñez’s name appears in a complaint filed last December by former MAS MP Lidia Patty against the civic leader of the wealthy Santa Cruz region, right-winger Luis Fernando Camacho, governor-elect of the department in recent elections local.

The trial also includes five former ministers from Áñez, police and military chiefs and civilians.