Bolivia arrests interim president Jeanine Áñez in crackdown on opposition

The conservative interim president who led Bolivia for a year was arrested on Saturday as officials of the restored leftist government pursue those involved in the 2019 ousting of socialist leader Evo Morales, which they regard as a coup, and the administration that followed.

Jeanine Áñez was detained in the early morning in her hometown of Trinidad and was flown to the capital, La Paz. She had earlier warned that officials were searching her, terming it “abuse and persecution” in Twitter posts.

The arrest of Áñez and warrants against numerous other former officials further worsened political tensions in a South American country already torn by a cascade of perceived wrongs suffered by both sides.

Those include complaints that Morales had grown more authoritarian with nearly 13 years in office; that he illegally ran for a fourth re-election and then allegedly rigged the outcome, that right-wing forces led violent protests that prompted security forces to push him into resigning and then cracked down on his followers, who themselves protested the alleged coup.

Dozens of people were killed in a series of demonstrations against and then for Morales.

“This is not justice,” said former president Carlos Mesa, who has since lost several elections to Morales. “They are seeking to decapitate an opposition by creating a false narrative of a coup to distract from a fraud.”