MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Bolivian interim President harms herself in apparent suicide attempt

Three former presidents and a UN mission call for safeguarding measures regarding Áñez's deteriorated health

Former Bolivian interim President Janine Áñez was hospitalized following self-inflicted injuries believed to be a suicide attempt after learning she had been charged with genocide for two massacres in the 2019 events surrounding the resignation of Evo Morales and her accession to power.

Áñez, under preventive detention in light of the criminal cases against her, was brought back to the Miraflores detention facility after doctors deemed her condition was “stable.”

Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo explained in a press conference that Áñez had tried to “generate self-harm” and that she has some “scratches” on one of her arms. Castillo added that Áñez was “completely stable” and that her injuries were “shallow.”

The official insisted that all of Áñez's fundamental rights were being guaranteed. Since her arrest, she has had some health problems such as high blood pressure and depression.

Former Presidents Carlos Mesa (2003-2005), Jaime Paz Zamora (1989-1993) and Jorge Quiroga Ramírez (2001-2002) have voiced their concern over Áñez's health through a joint letter to the State Attorney General's Office and the Judiciary to look after the physical and psychological integrity of Áñez.

The letter hightlights that medical reports and images of the former president show the “deterioration of her health,” and underlined it was “crucial and urgent to review her legal situation which allows her to defend herself” while safeguarding her right to freedom and health.“

”Keeping the former president in detention can have unfortunate consequences for her, her family and her country,“ the three former Presidents agreed. ”We extend our concern to international human rights organizations, and we ask them to verify the physical and emotional situation of former President Jeanine Áñez,“ the letter goes on.

In recent weeks Áñez left the Miraflores prison in La Paz where she is serving her preventive detention for the case called ”coup d'état“ to undergo various medical tests in which she was seen several times in a wheelchair and with difficulties walking .

Áñez has been in detention for more than five months, after being accused of crimes such as terrorism, sedition and conspiracy in the so-called ”coup d'etat” case due to the events during the political and social crisis of 2019.

Opposition groups to the government of current President Luis Arce have sent letters to international organizations to respect Áñez's human rights and the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights of Bolivia has requested that the ex-president be allowed to defend herself in freedom.

A UN delegation visited Añez Sunday and called for prison authorities to implement comprehensive strategies for the care and prevention of self-harm and suicide, always from a gender perspective.

“Although it was found that some response measures are being implemented, such as authorizing family accompaniment at night, international standards indicate that prison authorities must implement comprehensive strategies for the care and prevention of self-harm and suicide to protect life, integrity and health of the people in their custody,” the UN group said in a statement