RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office has informed this Friday that former President Jorge Quiroga will have to testify over the next week for his possible participation in the political crisis of 2019, which led to the departure of Evo Morales from the country, harassed by the opposition and part of the Armed Forces.
Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office summons former president Quiroga to testify for his participation in alleged coup d’état
The attorney general, Juan Lanchipa, has communicated that in addition to Quiroga, the leader of Unidad Nacional (UN), Samuel Doria Medina, will also have to come to the call of the Prosecutor’s Office to clarify his participation in the violent events that took place during the first weeks of November 2019 throughout the country.
Read also: Check out our coverage on Bolivia
The news is known shortly after the Prosecutor’s Office announced that the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, will also have to attend next October 7 as a defendant, and together with his father, to testify for having led the protests that occurred in the region he governs.
Camacho’s lawyer, Jerjes Justiniano, has advanced that they are analyzing the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, but that in any case, they will request to testify in Santa Cruz, alleging “strictly legal reasons”.
For his part, the also former Bolivian president and now leader of Comunidad Ciudadana (CC), Carlos Mesa, wanted to show his solidarity with Camacho and has assured that this summons of the Prosecutor’s Office is nothing more than “an invention” and a “total arbitrariness”, reports the Bolivian newspaper ‘La Razón’.
Mesa, who has confirmed that Camacho will appear before the Prosecutor’s Office, has insisted that everything “is part of a shameful trick”, which evidences “the cynicism” of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS).
According to him, this type of situation implies the “destruction” of democratic institutions and an “absurd and unacceptable” attempt to disregard the “constitutionality” of the government of the now convict Jeanine Áñez.
The three opposition leaders are called to testify in the so-called ‘Coup d’Etat’ case, for which Áñez is already in prison accused of several crimes, including terrorism, sedition, and conspiracy.
On November 10, 2019, Morales resigned after having won the elections due to internal and international pressures, such as those exerted by the Organization of American States (OAS) under the command of Luis Almagro, who denounced an alleged electoral fraud.
Two days later, Añez, vice-president of the Senate, proclaimed herself president after meeting with some Bolivian political and civil society sectors. Quiroga and Merina actively participated in these meetings.