Bolivia’s former acting president Jeanine Anez was arrested Saturday on terrorism and sedition charges. Government minister Carlos Eduardo del Castillo tweeted that Anez had been apprehended and was in police custody.
Anez served as the interim president after Evo Morales fled the country in 2019 during widespread protests against his re-election. Anez allegedly used the judiciary during her presidency to attack Morales and his administration members.
Morales returned to Bolivia in 2020 after the party he established, Movement for Socialism, dominated in the October 2020 election. Following the election, Morales denounced Anez’s actions as part of a coup that unseated him from the presidency.
On Friday, Anez tweeted an arrest order that she said was issued by the public prosecutor’s office. She was then arrested early on Saturday morning. Anez and her former energy and justice ministers, Rodrigo Guzman and Alvaro Coimbra, were charged with terrorism, sedition and conspiracy over the alleged coup.
Anez made her first court appearance on Sunday. According to the prosecution, Anez, Guzman, and Coimbra used security force allies to force Morales’s resignation in 2019. The prosecutor also claimed that they rigged events to enable Anez’s instatement as interim president.
Currently, police are still seeking several other ministers from Anez’s presidency, along with police, military, and opposition leaders.