Bolivia’s former president Áñez asks OAS Secretary General to stop the “pimps” of power

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The former interim president of Bolivia Jeanine Áñez released this Friday(10) on her social networks a letter addressed to the Secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, in which she asks him, together with the international community, to put “a stop to the pimps of power”.

“While my jailer watches me, I take advantage of these few lines, and from my dark and cold confinement, every moment I lose hope that in Bolivia we have true justice to repair the cracks that exist today,” begins the letter of Añez dated September 5.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Bolivia

The former interim president, who will complete six months in preventive detention next Monday, September 13, has several open cases against her, such as the case known as “coup d’état,” in which she is accused of the crimes of sedition and terrorism.

“My request for help is not for me, but for a country destroyed judicially and that its judiciary is prostituted to the government of the day,” she says in the letter in which she asks the international community to travel to Bolivia to “see what is happening with justice and political prisoners.”

In this sense, she points out to the Secretary-General of the OAS and the international community that “they must come to Bolivia and put a stop to the pimps of power who are led by (Bolivian President) Luis Arce and (former President) Evo Morales.”

WEAKENED HEALTH

“Surely my jailers want me to die in this prison from which I am writing to you today, and sometimes I think it is the best solution,” writes Áñez, who since she has been incarcerated, has presented several health problems due to high blood pressure and has also registered episodes of depression.

But she recognizes that “this will not solve the underlying issue, which is that justice is not valid and does not fix, but divides and ruins.”

At the end of last month, Áñez stated that she “no longer wants to live” after it became known that she self-injured her arms, for which her family has requested on several occasions that she be allowed to be treated by a specialist. Still, the authorities maintain that the former president is “stable”, receives adequate care, and is fit to serve her preventive detention.

Carolina Ribera, Áñez’s daughter, is currently in the United States. She has held meetings with organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which recently requested information from the Bolivian government on the former interim head of state.

Áñez’s defense went to the IACHR to request a precautionary measure. The Bolivian State protects the former president and can give her house arrest considering her health condition.