Bolivia’s former interim president, Jeanine Áñez, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison on charges similar to those of taking the workplace in 2019 amid violent protests that led to the resignation and exile of her predecessor, Evo Morales.
Áñez discovered guilty through the court of dereliction of duty and action contrary to the Magna Carta when she proclaimed herself president in what Morales and his party called a coup d’état.
Áñez’s supporters deny that it was a coup, saying Morales’ alleged abuse of force sparked a valid uprising in the streets. The removal of Bolivia’s first indigenous president and his vice president created a vacuum of force that allowed Áñez to assume the interim presidency as the time for the Senate president, they say. The defense said it would appeal the decision.
“I didn’t lift a finger at the president, but I did what I had to do to pacify a country that Morales left convulsed by the flight,” Áñez said from the prison where she is detained.
Morales resigned following national protests against suspicions of electoral fraud in the Oct. 20 election, which he claimed to have won to win a fourth term. Morales denied there was fraud. The protests left another 37 people dead and forced Morales to flee to Mexico.
His party, by its Spanish acronym MAS, returned to strength in the 2020 elections and since then Morales has returned to Bolivia.
The trial sets a “historical precedent” of impunity, said MAS deputy Juan José Jáuregui.
The court also sentenced former armed forces commander Williams Kaliman and former police commander Vladimir Calderon to 10 years in prison. Four former army leaders were given less serious sentences.
Outside the prison where she is detained, about 50 other people held up protest signs against Áñez.
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