MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ex Bolivian imprisoned president requests to present her case of UN human rights chief Bachelet

Ex president Jeanine Añez explains she became interim president on 12 November 2019 in the midst of “social convulsion” and a clear “power vacuum”

Former Bolivian interim president Jeanine Añez has requested a formal audience with the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, in a letter which she made public on Tuesday in social networks.

“I respectfully and earnestly request an audience for my daughter Carolina Ribera Añez who will represent me”, points out the former president arguing that her four months in jail as an impediment to meet personally with the UN official.

In the letter Ms Añez writes that she has been accused of being responsible for a coup d'etat but in reality those crimes have not been proven and her imprisonment is part of a political decision from current Bolivian president Luis Arce.

Ms Añez explains she became interim president on 12 November 2019 in the midst of “social convulsion” and a clear “power vacuum originated in the resignation of the main authorities from the Executive and the Legislative. The former president in her letter also refers to the conditions of her imprisonment, as well as precarious health condition. She has been accused of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy.

In the letter Ms Añez adds that she was in communicated from her family, suffered depression which triggered a ”prevalent high blood pressure“ condition, has kidneys' complication and her petition to receive outside medical attention has been systematically denied. She also warns she continues exposed to a cardiovascular stroke because of her hyper blood pressure condition.

The Bolivian congress and the Prosecution are investigating the deaths of some twenty civilians killed during November 2019, with Ms Añez as responsible, but the former president argues that the investigations are ”indolent and inhuman“ because they are geared to prolong her time in jail, despite incongruent alleged proofs. Likewise the fact that she was masterminding a coup, ”every day lose consistency“, and anticipates that if the audience is finally agreed, her daughter will take ”documental evidence“ that denies all accusations.

The former president was imprisoned last March following on accusations from a lawmaker, belonging to the ruling party, MAS, and from the governor of Santa Cruz region Luis Fernando Camacho, plus his father, which ”have yet to be questioned as part of the investigation”. Likewise former military and police officers who remain imprisoned have not been questioned, claims Ms Añez.