BOLIVIA
Spring Cleaning
Bolivian authorities arrested former interim President Jeanine Añez and some of her government’s former ministers over the weekend, a move condemned by the opposition and civil rights group as political persecution by the country’s ruling socialist party, Financial Times reported.
Añez and the ministers were arrested on charges of terrorism and sedition over their roles in the mass protests that forced former President Evo Morales to flee the country in November 2019.
Morales had sought to win a fourth consecutive term during the presidential elections that year but the vote was marred by irregularities. Following the resignation of Morales’ vice-president and head of senate, Añez, then a conservative provincial senator, was sworn in as the interim leader.
The conservative politician criticized the allegations adding that Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party “decided to return to the methods of dictatorship.”
Human rights activists, meanwhile, said that there was no evidence that Añez and her ministers had committed any crimes.
Tensions have increased since MAS candidate Luis Acre won last year’s presidential elections: Morales and his party maintain that the November 2019 events were a “coup d’état.” They have cracked down on opponents and issued arrest warrants for officials of the previous interim administration.
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