Jeanine Áñez refused to testify in the …

The former de facto president from Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez, decided not to testify this Saturday in front of the La Paz prosecutor’s office. The ex-president made use of her right to remain silent in the prosecution after being transferred from the facilities of the Special Crime Control Force (Felcc) to the seat of government, where she spent the first night after her arrest.

Áñez under investigation for crimes of sedition, conspiracy and terrorism in the coup d’état against constitutional president Evo Morales Aymá in November 2019. Several members of his former cabinet were also charged, as well as former army and police commanders.

Áñez was arrested yesterday in the town of Trinidad in Beni, nearly 600 kilometers northeast of the Bolivian capital just before 1 a.m. and after an intense police search. As reported by the Santa Cruz newspaper The duty, the family of the de facto ex-president tried to prevent Áñez’s arrest. His cousins ​​and daughter were even briefly detained for resisting the arrest of the former senator and de facto ex-president. The morning The reason reported that Áñez complied with a police interview conducted by Commander Aguilera and was subsequently airlifted to the capital.

Arrest and letters to the OAS

Images broadcast on Bolivian television showed Áñez who had not arrived in handcuffs at the airport and who was being escorted by the current government minister, Carlos Eduardo Castillo, and several police officers. “I inform the Bolivian people that Ms. Jeanine Áñez has already been apprehended and is currently in the hands of the police,” Del Castillo announced on his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

For its part, Áñez wrote letters to the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union (EU) in the past few hours. This was reported by the newspaper The reason from Bolivia. According to the morning, Former Acting President Hopes Agencies Send Missions to Demonstrate Alleged Political Persecution by charges against him following the coup that toppled Evo Morales in 2019. One of the letters is addressed to the Secretary General of the AEO, 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.

International response

The Puebla Group, one of the most active national alliances in the Ibero-American Peninsula, has shown its support for detention. “When atrocities are committed against the people, those responsible must pay. Without justice and redress for human rights violations, societies do not heal. Justice for the Bolivian people, what happened is a coup and it must be judged, ”they shared on the Twitter profile.

However, no statement has been released by the White House on the administration’s de facto detentions. The only message from the United States came from Acting Head of Latin America at the State Department, Julie chung Yes nor did he directly allude to the arrests for the coup investigation. who deposed the former constitutional president in 2019. “We urge our friends and neighbors in Bolivia to uphold all civil rights and due process guarantees of the American Convention on Human Rights and the principles of the Democratic Charter Inter-American, ”Chung posted on his Twitter account.

Sacaba and Senkata

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo revealed that The military high command disappeared from documentation and digitized information on the repressions in Sacaba and Senkata, which left 37 dead and more than 500 injured.. Novillo spoke on Friday at a ceremony held at the La Paz City Staff Command. “There is not one hundred percent all the information, it is the first information. Upon leaving, the military coup leaders cleared the leads, documentation (and) cyber information, data and computers, ”he said. In addition, he stated that Each of the forces will launch a summary to identify those responsible for the loss of documentation and digital information.

The Federation of Peasant Women of Bolivia Bartolina Sisa appealed to remember the victims of Sacaba and Senkata. Segundina Flores, leader of the Federation of Peasants, ruled out that the detention of the former president and her officials is a hunt. “This is not hunting, they are accountable to justice”Flores said at a press conference.

The cause

The prosecution’s order to detain the former de facto president and members of her cabinet is based on the complaint for the 2019 coup brought by former MP Lidia Patty (MAS). On Friday, the arrangements for the arrest of Jeanine Áñez and former ministers Yerko Núñez (presidency), Arturo Murillo (government), Luis Fernando López (defense), Álvaro Coimbra (justice) and Rodrigo Guzmán (energy) were known. The prosecution document also argues that the arrest warrants are drawn up because of the risk of flight for those involved and their ease in leaving the country. Currently, the former government and defense ministers named in the 2019 constitutional breach case reside in the United States.