Former Bolivian President Jeanine Añez was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday. according to Reuters news agency† The court in the Bolivian capital, La Paz, finds it proven that Añez played a role in an alleged coup d’état in 2019, in which then-President Evo Morales was deposed. Añez, who claims to be innocent, was sentenced to fifteen years.
Añez has been incarcerated since 2021 on charges of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy. She followed the entire process from prison and she was not present in court on Friday either. In her closing statement, she emphasized her innocence. “I did what I had to do. I assumed the presidency out of obligation, according to what is enshrined in the constitution,” she said. Her lawyers have said they will appeal the ruling.
interim president
Conservative Senator Añez came to power in November 2019. Then-President Evo Morales, who had led Bolivia for 14 years, was accused of electoral fraud, which sparked large-scale, violent protests in the South American country. After the military and police withdrew their support for Morales, the then president left for Argentina and all political leaders of Morales’ party resigned.
Añez, then vice president of the Senate, was sworn in as interim president in what Morales supporters saw as a coup d’état. She was also charged with a political breakdown when several leaders of Morales’s party were arrested in the early months of her presidency.
In 2020 new presidential elections were held in Bolivia, in which Luis Arce, party colleague of Morales, was elected president. Morales was then able to return from Argentina and Añez was arrested a year later. Anez’s party calls the trial “politically motivated” and says it will demonstrate against the ruling in the near future.