European Parliament demands release of Jeanine Áñez in Bolivia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL –  On Thursday, April 29th, the majority of the European Parliament condemned the detention of ex-interim president of Bolivia Jeanine Áñez and called on the Bolivian authorities to release her and 2 of her ministers and other imprisoned politicians, as well as to drop the politically motivated charges against them.

The condemnatory resolution was passed by 396 votes in favor, 267 against and 28 abstentions, considers Áñez and her former collaborators “political prisoners”, and “denounces and condemns their arbitrary and illegal detention.”

Áñez has been in preventive detention for over a month for the “coup d’état” case, based on allegations of conspiracy, sedition and terrorism during the political and social crisis that occurred in late 2019 and resulted in Evo Morales’ resignation as president and the annulment of that years’ elections amid allegations of fraud.

In this context, the European Parliament stresses that Áñez “fully complied with her duty as second vice president of the Senate by filling the presidential void” left by Morales and recalled that the Plurinational Court of Bolivia endorsed the transfer of powers to Jeanine Áñez.

In the parliamentary debate on the matter, the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, stressed that Brussels has publicly requested that the accusations against Áñez linked to the 2019 events be addressed in a judicial process “transparent and fair, with full independence, without political pressure and with full respect for the division of powers.”

On the other hand, the vice-president of the European Parliament, Czech Dita Charanzová, said shortly after the resolution was passed, “We all hoped that the last elections in Bolivia would mark a positive change, that they would restore peace in such a divided country, but the opposite happened.”

“We have watched with horror a wave of political persecution. Let it be clear: the presidential succession in 2019 was constitutional. The European Union, among others, supported the OAS audit, the transition government of Jeanine Áñez,” he added.

The community delegation in La Paz is in contact with the ex-interim president’s family and with the United Nations representative who visits Áñez in prison on a regular basis. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also described the prosecution of Añez as political.

In its resolution, the European Parliament “expresses its concern about the lack of independence and impartiality of the Bolivian judicial system and the prevalence of structural problems; it notes that this lack of independence affects access to justice and, more generally, undermines the confidence of citizens in the national judicial system.”

Deputies call on Bolivia to make “structural changes and reforms” in the composition of its judicial system and to address the “widespread issue” of corruption in the country, as well as to modify the definitions of terrorism in the Penal Code to make them more appropriate.

In addition, they urge the Bolivian Prosecutor General’s Office to reopen the investigation into the alleged channeling by the Morales government of US$1.6 million dollars of public funds through irregular payments to Neurona consulting firm.

In Bolivia, the ruling party had anticipated this European resolution on Wednesday. The Chamber of Deputies, controlled by the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), approved yesterday a declaration rejecting the interference of international organizations in Bolivian affairs. And ex-president Evo Morales tweeted: “We reject the interventionist initiative promoted by the far-right in the European Parliament that promotes impunity in the face of the deaths and serious human rights violations during the coup.”

And for her part, Carolina Ribera, daughter of ex-president Jeanine Áñez, thanked the European Parliament for its position. “This is further proof that my mother’s government was supported and continues to be supported by the international community. We hope that the national government will accept this resolution with the respect it deserves (…) and not try to silence it with senseless attacks,” she told the local press.