Bolivia’s former interim president Jeanine Áñez, who was incarcerated in 2019 for an alleged coup against former President Evo Morales, was transferred Saturday morning to another women’s prison in La Paz and confirmed by authorities.
“ They took me out and told me I was going to the South Clinic, ” the ex-president briefly told the press when she arrived at the Miraflores women’s prison, where she will continue to serve the four months of protective custody that against her have been proclaimed. while investigating the prosecution.
Añez was taken to that prison in an ambulance after two days due to alleged health problems.
The General Directorate of the Penitentiary Regime said in a statement that the change to the Miraflores Penitentiary Center for Women was made because that facility “has medical facilities, equipment and medical personnel according to the specific and recommended treatment that the prisoner needs.
On Friday afternoon, three judges from La Paz ordered Añez’s “judicial exit” to a clinic for his medical evaluation by cardiology specialists. Shortly after, however, another judge withdrew that authorization and ordered her to be heard by the medical staff of the Forensic Research Institute.
Añez’s daughter, Carolina Ribera, had requested that her mother be transferred to a medical center to treat her for “systemic arterial hypertension.” According to her, the prison authorities have not complied with the court decision by denying her mother ‘all health care’.
In a video posted to the social network Twitter, Ribera pointed out that the refusal to transfer Áñez to a medical center instead of the new prison is an “attempt on the life” of the former interim president.
“This is an abuse, an injustice and they are attacking my mother’s life, who is in urgent need of medical attention,” said Áñez’s daughter.
The former interim president entered a women’s prison in the city of La Paz last Sunday after being arrested the day before in the city of Trinidad, the capital of the Amazon department of Beni (northeast), during a police operation.
His former Justice and Energy Ministers have also been arrested and warrants are being issued against other of his associates.
A new appeal hearing on these preventive arrests is scheduled for next Saturday morning.
Añez, who wielded power from November 2019 to November 2020, weighs in a complaint of sedition, terrorism and conspiracy filed by former deputy of the ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS) Lidia Patty.
The complaint refers to the events that led to Morales stepping down as president in November 2019, after 14 years in power.
The left-wing leader left his post after violent protests from opponents who accused Morales of fraudulently winning the October 2019 presidential election in which he was seeking a fourth term.