Bolivian prosecutor’s office extends criminal proceedings against former interim president Jeanine Áñez

The Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office decided on Tuesday to extend the criminal proceedings against the former interim president of the country, Jeanine Áñez, for the crimes of genocide, homicide, and serious injuries, for the so-called Senkata massacre case in the city of El Alto in 2019, adjacent to the city of La Paz.

This determination was communicated by the prosecutors Walter Lora, Iván Cernadas Miranda, and Favio Maldonado to the First Criminal Court of Instruction of the city of El Alto.

This in the framework of the process followed ex officio for the facts registered in the area of Senkata, in the city of El Alto, during the transfer of a fuel convoy in November 2019 when 10 people perished due to the impact of military projectiles.

The extension of the process was confirmed by the Minister of Justice, Iván Lima, who communicated through his social networks.

“Memory, Truth, and Justice, the Public Ministry has informed the First Precautionary Judge of the city of El Alto of the extension of the criminal process for the crimes of genocide, homicide, and serious injuries against Jeanine Áñez Chávez who will be tried for the Senkata Massacre”, informed the minister.

This decision is made in the framework of the ex officio proceeding against General Luis Fernando Valverde, former interim director of the National Hydrocarbons Agency, and others for the events that took place in the Senkata area of the city of El Alto.

According to the investigations, Valverde Ferrufino gave the order to move the fuel convoy from the Senkata plant, on November 19, 2019, in the midst of a violent neighborhood repression in the area.

The document states that joint forces of the Police and the Armed Forces repressed the civilian population, resulting in 31 people wounded by bullets and 10 people killed by firearm projectiles.

The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), formed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), investigated the events of the 2019 crisis and determined that there was a massacre in Senkata and Sacaba.

To date, three cases have been filed against Añez for ordinary trials, of which one has already been sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in the “coup d’état II” case.

The first trial is the so-called “coup d’état I” for allegedly committing crimes of sedition, terrorism, and conspiracy.

For this case, she is in preventive detention with five extensions, and the process continues.

A second one, for the “coup d’état II” case, which on June 10 of last year resulted in a 10-year prison sentence for the former interim president for the crimes of breach of duties and resolutions contrary to the Constitution the laws.

She has been held in a women’s prison Miraflores in the Bolivian city of La Paz (west), since March 2021, when the justice system decided she should serve these 10 years in prison.

The third case refers to the irregular appointment of her relative Karina Fabiola Leiva Áñez de Ruiz as manager of the state-owned EBA in 2020, which is still in process.