RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This Thursday, March 18th, the Bolivian Foreign Ministry has summoned representatives of the United States and Brazil and has asked them to “abstain” from interference and “not to intervene” in its internal affairs.
As for the United States, the meeting was attended by Charisse Phillips, the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires and, according to a statement from the Bolivian Foreign Ministry, was reminded of “the duty to refrain from intervening in the internal affairs of another State”, as established in the Framework Agreement on Bilateral Relations of Mutual Respect and Collaboration between the Governments of both countries.
Read: Human Rights Watch denounces irregularities in Jeanine Áñez’s arrest warrant in Bolivia
For its part, at the meeting with the Brazilian ambassador to the Andean nation, Henrique Días García Cortes, the Foreign Ministry referred to “the declaration on the principles of International Law concerning friendly relations and cooperation between States in accordance with the United Nations Charter”, according to a second communiqué, reported by the newspaper ‘La Razón’.
The United States and Brazil have made statements commenting on the arrest of the former president of Bolivia Jeanine Áñez and two of her ministers for their alleged participation in the “coup d’état” of 2019.
Read: Bolsonaro calls “coup” charge against Bolivia’s ex-president “completely unfounded”
The deputy spokeswoman of the US State Department, Jalina Porter, expressed that the country “follows with concern the events related to the recent arrest of former officials by the Bolivian government.”
As for Brazil, its president, Jair Bolsonaro, considered that the arrest of Áñez is “totally unreasonable”, while the Brazilian Foreign Ministry showed its “concern” for what happened and pointed out that the former president took office “in a constitutional manner”.