Bolivia’s interim former president faces an arrest warrant for terrorism and sedition as prosecutors move against officials who supported the removal of former leader Evo Morales, whom his party – now back in power – considers a coup.
“The political persecution has begun,” said Jeanine Áñez, who led a conservative administration that took power after Morales resigned in November 2019.
Áñez said on Friday that the ruling party Movement towards Socialism “has decided to return to the style of dictatorships.”
The announcement followed orders issued Thursday for the former head of the armed forces and police, who had urged Morales to resign amid national protests over his re-election, which opponents insisted were fraudulent.
Álvaro Coimbra, who served as justice minister on Áñez’s orders, said on Twitter that he was also facing an arrest warrant and that one of his deputy ministers had been arrested.
After nearly 13 years in the presidency, Morales went into exile in November 2019 at the urging of police and military leaders and Áñez, who had been several rungs in the line of succession, took power when those above d ‘she also resigned.
The same provisional authorities tried to persecute Morales and key members of his government, accusing them of rigging elections and illegally suppressing dissent.
But Morales’ party won the election again with his chosen successor, Luis Arce, and the former leader has returned home.
The decision to arrest former General William Kaliman and former police chief Iván Calderón was denounced by the Bolivian Permanent Assembly for Human Rights, a group that originally emerged to confront the military dictatorships of the 1970s. and eighty.
Both Morales’ allies and enemies claim to have been the victims of deadly persecution before or after he was forced to step down.
Kaliman and Calderon had said that only the resignation of Morales could pacify the polarized nation. Kaliman, who had been appointed by Morales, was replaced shortly after leaving the left.
Luis Fernando Camacho, elected governor of the province of Santa Cruz, who was a key sponsor of the effort to eliminate Morales, is also being investigated. Neither he nor Áñez are still facing arrest warrants. Official efforts to interrogate Camacho on Thursday were suspended when a large number of followers appeared in court.