The opposition in Bolivia as a bloc rejected the arrest of former president Janine Anez and called for protests

The The arrest of former Bolivian interim President Janine Anez she was The block was rejected by the opposition From her country, where she is being investigated for her participation in an alleged coup against left-wing ex-president Evo Morales in 2019.

The main opposition parties, the right-wing conservatives, They deny that a coup d’état took place in Bolivia in November 2019In the midst of social unrest and a police uprising, Morales resigned and left for Mexico as a first destination, and Anez, the second vice president of the Senate, was declared interim president.

The surprising opposition indicated that as a former president, Nez should be tried before Parliament and not before the regular courts, but the Minister of Justice denied any possibility of trying par excellence as a former president..

Meanwhile, some civil society leaders and groups have spoken The protests have been called from Monday Former President Carlos Mesa (2003-2005) said on Twitter that he is against these arrests, which are classified as “political persecution” of those who “defended democracy and freedom in 2019.”

Former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga (2001-2002), of the right-wing National Democratic Action Party, also warned that they “wanted to criminalize the constitutional succession” and called for a meeting of all sectors to defend human rights. democracy.

For its part, the Santa Cruz Civic Committee refused to arrest Anez and his former ministers and Citizenship summoned civil resistance, while other citizen groups declared a state of emergency.

Ones, 53, was arrested at dawn Saturday in the city of Trinidad, the capital of the Beni Amazon region, 600 kilometers northeast of La Paz, by the police, in an operation led by the Minister of the Government (Interior), Eduardo from the castle. .

His name appeared in a complaint filed last December by former MP Lydia Patti of the ruling Movement for Socialism against the civil leader of the wealthy Santa Cruz region, right-wing Luis Fernando Camacho, and the elected governor of the party. The district in the recent local elections Las.

The lawsuit includes five former Anez ministers, police and military leaders, and civilians who participated in what the current government considers a coup against the leftist Morales, after 14 years in power.

Are being held now

Like Ones, the two former justice ministers, Alvaro Coimbra, and Energy, Rodrigo Guzmán, were also detained in Trinidad, and all were flown to La Paz, to be questioned by the prosecutor’s office.

Accusation to Discord, terrorism and conspiracy.

Niiz is being held in cells at a police station and transferred to the prosecutor’s office for a few hours on Saturday, but she accepted the right to silence and was brought back to the unit in uniform.

The prosecution expects to take her statements from her in the next few hours and will decide in any legal case to refer her to a judge, to open legal procedures.

Áñez considera su detención “un acto de abuso y persecución política” del gobierno del presidente Luis Arce, que la acusa “de haber participado en un golpe de estado que nunca ocurrió” y en el marco de un proceso que “no tiene ni pies ni head”.

Normal operation

Justice Minister Evan Lima rejected the opposition’s complaints about the existence of a political administration for the prosecution, indicating that he was acting on the right.

He clarified that ñez does not have the right to judge responsibilities or privileges, due to his status as a former governor, but a normal process of his actions as a senator, before he takes up the first position of magistracy.

“At this moment, we are facing the trial of a former senator, and therefore there is no trial of constitutional privilege,” he added.

The trial of concession means that the attorney general’s office is asking Parliament to authorize the trial and then develop the process before the Supreme Court of Justice.

Calls for dialogue

The arrest of Ones prompted the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, to say from Twitter that “the accusations of the events of 2019 must be resolved in a framework of transparent justice and without political pressure.”

Borrell also called for “dialogue and reconciliation.”

In a statement, the US embassy in La Paz requested “respect for all civil rights and due process guarantees.”

The Bolivian Episcopal Conference called for the “immediate release of the detainees” whom it considered personalities seeking to “calm down” in the difficult times the country is going through.

Both the Catholic Church and the European Union were key factors in the transition from the Morales government to the Anez government.

Ones took office in November 2019, after Morales resigned amid strong social turmoil by opponents who had denounced fraud in the previous month’s elections in which the left-wing leader had sought to be reelected.

The opponents denounced the fraud that occurred in the ballot boxes, which later led to police riots, and the armed forces proposed his resignation.

Morales was exiled to Mexico, moved to Argentina a month later as a refugee and returned home in November 2020, after the presidential elections won by Ars, Delphine and the former economy minister.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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