Bolivia: Prosecutors seek 6-month pre-trial detention for ex-interim president Áñez

A judge in Bolivia on Sunday, March 14, ordered former interim president Jeanine Áñez be held for four months in preventative detention. This comes after her arrest on charges linked to the 2019 ouster of socialist leader Evo Morales. Anez was detained in her hometown Trinidad and was then flown to the capital, Las Paz. Earlier, she had warned that officials were searching her, terming it “abuse and persecution".

Current situation in Bolivia 

After a virtual hearing, Judge Regina Santa Cruz backed the prosecutors’ request that Áñez should be held in a women’s prison in La Paz. The judge also ordered 4 months of preventative arrest for two of her former ministers. Áñez and the two ex-ministers heard the ruling from police cells. They are expected to be transferred to prison. 

The arrest of Anez has further increased the situation of political turmoil in South America. According to the reports by AP, former President Carlos Mesa said, “This is not justice. They are seeking to decapitate an opposition by creating a false narrative of a coup to distract from a fraud”. 

Various arrest warrants were issued for more than a dozen other former officials. These included several ex-cabinet ministers, former military leader William Kaliman and the police chief who had urged Morales to resign in November 2019. This was after the country was swept by protests against the country's first Indigenous president. Earlier, two ministers in Áñez's government were also arrested. These included former Justice Minister Alvaro Coimbra. He had helped lead the prosecution of Morales' aides. A former defense minister and others also have been accused.

New Justice Minister Iván Lima said that Áñez faces charges related to her actions as an opposition senator and not as a former president. Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo denied it was an act of persecution. He said that the case arose from a criminal complaint of conspiracy and sedition filed against her in November. This was when she left office. The Americas director of Human Rights Watch, José Miguel Vivanco, said that the arrest warrants against Áñnez and her ministers “contain no evidence whatsoever that they have committed the crime of terrorism”.