Former interim president of Bolivia Jeanine Áñez goes on hunger strike in prison

Former interim president of Bolivia Jeanine Áñez, imprisoned by the Bolivian government who says she has committed crimes of sedition, conspiracy and terrorism after the post-election crisis of 2019, he went on a hunger strike because “he doesn’t want to fight ”.

Áñez would also be depressed, as revealed by the president of the Human Rights Assembly (APDHB), Amparo Carvajal, after visiting the former president at the women’s prison in Obrajes, which she entered last Monday.

As reported by Carvajal, Áñez “is on hunger strike. He doesn’t want to fight. He has a very strong and deep depression. No one was able to visit him, not even his relatives, only his lawyer ”, pick up the local newspaper ‘Time’.

Despite the activist’s attempts to encourage him, Carvajal herself says: Áñez has said over and over again that “he wants to die, because why live?”

Carvajal visited the prison with a delegation from the Ombudsman’s Office following the refusal of the prison authorities to allow the hospitalization of the former president, whose relatives have denounced that has problems with high blood pressure and depression.

Áñez was arrested last Saturday and is serving a four-month sentence in pre-trial detention awaiting trial in the ‘coup affair’, due to what happened after the Bolivian general elections of 2019.

On the other hand, Áñez’s daughter, Carolina Ribera, stays on “vigil” outside the prison, waiting to be allowed to visit the former president, as collected ‘The duty’, Where supporters of the former president have also gathered to demand that she be transferred to a medical center.

Ribera also said he would meet with representatives of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to present his mother’s case. The opposition has severely criticized the detention of Áñez and other members of his cabinet, calling it political detention, while the government has reiterated that all the rights of the former president are respected.

For his part, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, met this Thursday with the President of Bolivia, Luis Arce, and stressed the importance of respecting human rights and ensuring fair trials after the arrest of the former president Jeanine Áñez and former senior officials of the previous government.

“During the conversation, the Secretary General underlined the need to respect human rights and due process, which constitute a fundamental basis for the consolidation of democracy”Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the international institution, said during his daily press conference.

Guterres had already expressed himself in similar terms last weekend, when he released a statement in which he stressed the importance of ensure adequate and “transparent” legal procedures for those arrested.

In this way, The United Nations has joined the long list of countries and international organizations that have expressed concern over the situation in Bolivia. This Thursday, the Arce government asked United States and Brazil “Do not interfere” in their internal affairs, after these countries expressed concern about the imprisonment of Áñez and five of his ministers.

(With information from Europa Press)

KEEP READING: