By Miguel Gómez on March 13, 2021
Photo: Telam
Former transitional president Jeanine Áñez was arrested early Saturday morning in Beni for the “coup d’état case”. She claimed that she is a victim of “abuse” and “political persecution”. She was transferred to La Paz and arrived at 03:30a.
“I inform the Bolivian people that Mrs. Jeanine Áñez has been apprehended and is currently in the hands of the police,” the Minister of Government, Eduardo del Castillo, revealed on his Twitter account after midnight.
On Friday, the arrest warrants were issued and implemented against Áñez and his former ministers Yerko Núñez (Presidency), Arturo Murillo (Government), Luis Fernando López (Defense), Álvaro Coimbra (Justice), and Rodrigo Guzmán (Energy).
Coimbra and Guzmán were arrested and later transferred to the city of La Paz to give their statements to the Attorney General’s Office. The whereabouts of Núñez are unknown, while Murillo and López are also fugitives and have fled to the United States.
According to a police source contacted by La Razón, Áñez was captured in a building in Trinidad and early this morning was undergoing a “police interview” directed by Commander Aguilera before being brought to La Paz.
The “coup d’état case” was opened by Lidia Patty, ex-deputy of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), for the resignation of Evo Morales in November 2019 due to right-wing protests, a police riot, and pressure from the Armed Forces.
To this was added a controversial report by the Organization of American States (OAS), which fueled the discourse of fraud in the 2019 elections on October 20, in which Morales won without the need for a second-round vote against his main rival, Carlos Mesa.
The main defendants in this process are the then Santa Cruz rightist activist Luis Fernando Camacho, now virtual governor of Santa Cruz, and his father. Camacho even revealed that his father “shut down” the military and police so that they would not defend the government.
“I denounce before Bolivia and the world that in an act of abuse and political persecution, the MAS government has had me arrested. It accuses me of having participated in a coup d’état that never happened. My prayers for Bolivia and for all Bolivians” (sic), Áñez wrote on her social networks while already detained in police custody.
There are also arrest warrants for former military commanders Williams Kaliman and Sergio Orellana and former police commander Yuri Calderón. On Friday, Flavio Arce, ex-chief of the General Staff, was sent to prison for six months.
The charges against Áñez include the crimes of sedition, terrorism, and conspiracy.
“I want to congratulate the great work of our General Command of the #PolicíaBoliviana, the National Intelligence Directorate #DNI and the #FELCN in this great and historic task of giving justice to the Bolivian people,” Del Castillo said in another message on Twitter.
Source: La Razon, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English