On Friday, already without a president and after spending more than a year in pretrial detention, Áñez was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
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Conservative Senator Jeanine Áñez, unknown to many Bolivians before stepping out onto the balcony of the government palace in November 2019, with the Bible in hand.
A longtime critic of his leftist predecessor, Evo Morales, she intervened in the presidential vacuum left by his resignation and fled the country from violent post-election protests.
On Friday, already without a president and after spending more than a year in pretrial detention, Áñez was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
His crime: an alleged plot – rejected by many as fictitious – to overthrow Morales.
The accusations came despite Áñez overseeing new elections and resigning from the presidency a year later in favor of Luis Arce de Morales’ MAS party, which gained strength in the October 2020 elections.
“I congratulate the victors and ask them to govern thinking about Bolivia and democracy,” he said at the time.
In March 2021, with Morales back in the country and his MAS party in charge, Áñez arrested on charges of sedition and terrorism for what the government claims is an attempted coup against him.
“I denounce to Bolivia and the world that in an act of abuse and political persecution, the MAS government ordered my arrest,” Añez said on Twitter at the time.
“They accuse me of a coup d’état that never happened. My prayers for Bolivia and for all Bolivians.
In pre-trial detention, he went on hunger strike on more than one occasion. His trial began in mid-February.
Friday’s 10-year sentence in a La Paz women’s prison stemmed from “unconstitutional and dereliction of duty” crimes over fees related to when she was a senator before serving as president.
Áñez still faces charges in a pending sedition case and other charges similar to those of his brief presidential term.
– Second President of Bolivia –
As vice president of the Senate, Áñez assumed the presidency in 2019 two days after Morales, a friend of Cuba and Venezuela, resigned after 14 years in power.
Morales fled to Mexico after 3 weeks of violent unrest following elections in which he sought an unconstitutional fourth term. As the opposition grew, he lost control of the armed forces.
Áñez took over as Bolivia’s 66th president, and his momentary wife in office, after all officials vying to act as interim president fled.
Faced with an uprising by Morales’ supporters, he turned to the police and the army to restore order.
The post-election confrontation left an estimated 35 people dead, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
In January 2020, Áñez announced his candidacy for the presidency, prompting complaints from conflicting parties and allies that he did not keep his word to run until new elections were held.
The coronavirus outbreak hit Bolivia’s watch in March 2020, and with it, accusations of corruption in the acquisition of ventilators from Spain.
Añez blamed his minister and fired him.
In September, he withdrew from the presidential race because opinion polls predicted a certain defeat.
– Senator “coup d’état” –
When he assumed the presidency, Áñez promised to “pacify the country. “But Morales called her a “right-wing coup senator. “
She had “declared. . . interim president a legislative quorum, surrounded by an organization of accomplices,” she said at the time.
After learning of the arrest warrant that opposes him, Áñez affirmed that he had been the victim of lies and defended his access to “constitutional” force in 2019, which he said was necessary through “electoral fraud. “
The 54-year-old former TV presenter served between 2006 and 2008 as a member of a meeting that drafted Bolivia’s constitution. She has been a senator since 2010.
She is a member of a conservative minority political group, Democratic Unity, and has the moment vice president of the Senate, in keeping with the culture that all parties are represented in the highest positions.
A proud Christian, Áñez posed with a purple Bible at her swearing-in ceremony, to distinguish herself from Morales, a socialist who had suppressed devout oaths.
“God allowed the Bible to return to the (presidential) palace. Bless us,” he said.
Áñez lived in the town of Trinidad, capital of the Amazonian branch of Beni, where she was detained.
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