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SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Bolivia’s former President Jeanine Anez began a four-month jail term on Monday as investigators probe allegations she helped in a coup that led to the removal of longtime leader Evo Morales from power in 2019.
The arrest of the conservative interim leader - who was in power for less than a year after the ouster of leftist icon Morales - has sparked sharp criticism from human rights groups and the Organization of American States (OAS), who say judicial channels are being abused for political ends.
“They have become repressive instruments of the ruling party,” the OAS said in a statement on Monday. “Bolivia’s judicial system is not in a position to provide the minimum guarantees of fair trial, impartiality and due process.”
Bolivie: prison requise contre l ex-présidente Añez, accusée d avoir renversé Morales
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RTL 5minutes - Bolivie: prison requise contre l ex-présidente Añez, accusée d avoir renversé Morales
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Bolivians went to the polls on March 7, in regional elections postponed a year because of Covid-19. The governing MAS party, under the leadership of President Luis Arce, won governorships in three of Bolivia’s nine departments, or states. The party is headed to a second round in another four departments. The final results have been delayed because of a cyberattack from outside the country on the Electoral Tribunal’s website on March 9.
Santa Cruz, the country’s most populous department, was the only place where the MAS resoundingly lost a governorship. Luis Fernando Camacho won with 63.8 percent of the vote. Far-right Camacho played a pivotal role in the expulsion of ex-President Evo Morales in November 2019. His erstwhile ally, former ex-interim President Jeanine Áñez, ran for governor in her home department of the Beni in the northeast, coming in third.