Bolivia: Áñez’s daughter denounces that her mother was assaulted in prison by a policewoman

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Carolina Ribera, daughter of the former interim president of Bolivia Jeanine Áñez, denounced this Wednesday that her mother “was assaulted and beaten” by a policewoman and that she fears for the safety of the former president, who is in preventive detention in prison in La Paz.

“They entered my mother’s cell and wanted to make her sign a note; they wanted to force her, but she refused to sign,” Ribera told Efe.

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She explained that the event happened on Wednesday afternoon and that a lieutenant named Durán entered her cell telling Áñez that she had to obey and that she had to sign that note, the contents of which are unknown.

“He began to get upset and kicked everything that was there, he assaulted my mother, he pushed her,” Ribera said.

Ribera said this whole situation was told to him by his brother, who was with his mother.

Ribera said, in response, Áñez decompensated and again suffered a crisis due to her high blood pressure.

She was then attended by a doctor who injected her with medication to stabilize her, but her daughter does not know the details of the situation.

So far, her brother told her that Áñez is a little more stable, but that “anything can happen to her,” and he said he fears for his mother’s life.

Áñez served this week nine months of preventive detention in prison in La Paz for the so-called “coup d’état” case in which she was accused of sedition and terrorism.

However, the Ministry of Justice indicated that her detention is for the case called “coup d’état II”. She is accused of breach of duties and resolutions contrary to the Constitution.

During her detention, Añez suffered several health problems, such as a crisis due to her high blood pressure, and on one occasion, she self-harmed her arm, stating that she no longer wanted to live.

Months ago, the former transitory president also presented hyperventilation, acute stomach pains, decompensations, and kidney problems, as well as depression.

BOLIVIAN PENITENTIARY REGIME DENIES

The General Directorate of the Bolivian Penitentiary Regime has denied Thursday that the former president Jeanine Áñez has been assaulted in the Miraflores prison, located in La Paz, as she has assured.

In a statement published through Twitter, the Bolivian Penitentiary Regime has explained that it has received the security report of the Miraflores prison, after which it has proceeded to deny the alleged “physical” aggression by “police personnel”.

“In view of this unfounded and malicious publication, we categorically deny this fact,” he reiterated, before denouncing the “attitude” of Áñez, who “verbally assaulted the police personnel after having tried to deliver information that the prisoner herself had requested”.