On 17 October a La Paz court ruled that Bolivia’s former interim president Jeanine Áñez (2019-2020) cannot be tried as part of the ‘Golpe de Estado 1’ case as that would entail her being retried for the same offences for which she was convicted in 2022.
Analysis:
Áñez was yesterday removed from the trial, which concerns her assumption of power following the disputed 2019 election, in which former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) claims to have been removed in a coup. The prosecution of Áñez and her co-defendants, including the governor of Santa Cruz department, Luis Fernando Camacho, is viewed by the opposition as evidence of the politicisation of the judiciary under President Luis Arce. Similar accusations are now being made by Morales as prosecutors consider arresting him as part of their investigation into alleged statutory rape and human trafficking.
- Áñez, who in June 2022 was sentenced to ten years in prison for dereliction of duty and violating the constitution as part of the ‘Golpe de Estado 2’ case, had been due to face a second trial for alleged terrorism, conspiracy, inciting military rebellion, and criminal association. Prosecutors had sought an additional 20-year prison sentence in the second trial.
- However, as both cases concern the events that followed the disputed 2019 election, the La Paz court yesterday ruled that Áñez must be excluded from the trial to avoid double jeopardy.
- The trial will continue of Áñez’s co-defendants, who are facing variations of the same charges – Camacho and Marco Antonio Pumari, a former leader of the opposition civil society organisation Comité Cívico Potosinista (Comcipo). Also being tried in absentia, and currently in hiding or in exile, are the former commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Williams Kaliman; the former commander of the national police, Yuri Calderón; Áñez’s former defence minister, Luis Fernando López; former military commander-in-chief, Sergio Orellana; and the army’s former inspector general, Jorge Fernández.
- This trial began as the possibility remains that the attorney general’s office will issue an arrest warrant for Morales, following his refusal to testify in an investigation into allegations of statutory rape and human trafficking. For the fourth consecutive day, Morales’ supporters yesterday blocked highways in the departments of Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, and Tarija, as they accused Arce of weaponising the judiciary to neutralise Morales, who is vying with Arce to lead the ruling left-wing Movimiento al Socialiamo (MAS) into next year’s presidential election despite being barred due to presidential term limits.
- Morales’ plan for a political comeback is dependent on judicial elections, scheduled for 1 December, which will result in the replacement of the current constitutional court (TCP) which established the limits on presidential terms, or on a concurrent referendum which will ask voters whether they support lifting term limits. The judicial elections had been in doubt after two constitutional judges separately ruled on 15 October that the elections were “nullified” following appeals by excluded candidates. However, a constitutional judge in La Paz yesterday ruled that the elections must go ahead, and the supreme electoral court (TSE) also announced yesterday that the elections “have not been suspended”.
- As well as the pressure from Morales’ supporters, Arce is facing separate protests which began yesterday in Santa Cruz department over inflation, which surged in August. The government has blamed rising inflation on the regular blocking of highways by Morales’ allies, which it claims are part of a deliberate effort to harm the economy and undermine Arce ahead of next year’s election.
Looking Ahead: Prosecutors have said that they will appeal the decision to exclude Áñez from the trial.
