Sharjah24 – Reuters: Bolivia's former interim President Jeanine Anez landed behind bars on Saturday in the capital of the country she led just six months ago after the new government arrested her on claims she participated in a 2019 coup to seize power.
Anez and a raft of ministers and security officials face charges of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy over an alleged coup against Morales, according to an arrest warrant she posted on social media.
Anez led Bolivia for less than a year after long-time former President Evo Morales left office following contested elections and violent protests. The arrest, which critics call unconstitutional, escalated hostilities between the current socialist administration of Morales' political ally and successor President Luis Arce, and more conservative opponents it accuses of ousting Morales.
Hours after a dawn raid on Anez's home in the central city of Trinidad, she was pictured behind bars in a women's holding cell in La Paz awaiting a judicial hearing due to take place within 24 hours.
She claimed to be the victim of "aberrant political persecution."
In letters to the Organization of American States and the European Union, Anez appealed for observer missions to evaluate her arrest and those of her former energy and justice ministers.
"It is an absolute outrage, they are accusing us of being accomplices of an alleged coup," Anez told local television as she arrived in a military plane at a La Paz airport under heavy police escort.
"There is not a grain of truth in the accusations. It is simple political intimidation. There was no coup. I took part in a constitutional succession."
Anez took power in late 2019 after Morales resigned amid widespread violent protests against his government over allegations he fraudulently won an election when running for an unprecedented and unconstitutional fourth term.
At least 33 people were killed in violence that followed the election, 30 of them after Anez took office.
Morales' Movement for Socialism party, now headed by Arce, his former economy minister, swept back to power in a landslide election last October, prompting Morales to return from exile in Argentina.
Government Minister Eduardo del Castillo confirmed on Saturday that the Public Prosecutor's Office had detained Anez for involvement in a "coup in our country."
He insisted due process would be followed.
"There is no political persecution on our part here, and we do not fear anyone who thinks differently," he told a news conference.
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