Jeanine Anez committed treason against Bolivia: Analyst

Daniel Kovalik, an academic at the University of Pittsburgh, made the remarks in an interview on Saturday.

On Friday former Bolivian interim president Jeanine Anez was sentenced to a 10-year prison term more than a year after being arrested on charges of leading a US-backed plot in 2019 to oust re-elected socialist president Evo Morales.

Anez will serve 10 years in a women's prison in La Paz, the administrative capital's First Sentencing Court announced on Friday in a ruling that came three months after her trial began.

Convicted of crimes "contrary to the constitution and a dereliction of duties," the former right-wing television presenter was sentenced to "a punishment of 10 years" over charges stemming from when she was a senator, before becoming president.

“Jeanine Anez committed treason,” said Kovalik.

“She was part of an unconstitutional, military coup against the duly elected government of Bolivia. She assumed the Presidency after the coup without any legal mandate after a very poor showing in the elections.  She then went on for a year to govern over Bolivia with an iron hand, with scores of Bolivian indigenous, social and political leaders murdered by the military she commanded,” he added.

“In light of this, a mere ten-year sentence seems an incredible act of mercy towards her,” he noted.

“It should be remembered that the US and the Organization of American States (OAS), through their lies about the fairness of the re-election of Evo Morales, played a treacherous role in bringing about the coup they brought Anez to power,” the analyst said.

“Pity that the US and OAS officials involved will never be brought to justice,” he concluded.

Anez became Bolivia's interim president in November 2019 after Morales, who had won a fourth consecutive term as president, fled the country in the face of what was widely viewed as a US-sponsored conspiracy.

The Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) claimed at the time that it had found “clear evidence” of voting irregularities in favor of Morales, a popular, anti-US president who was re-elected into office for 14 years.

Many potential successors to Morales -- all members of his MAS party – were also forced to resign or flee, leaving right-wing opposition member Anez, then vice-president of the Senate, next in line.

Virtually unknown, the lawyer and former TV personality proclaimed herself interim president of the Andean nation on November 12, 2019, two days after Morales' forced resignation.

The Constitutional Court recognized Anez's mandate as interim, caretaker president, but MAS members disputed her legitimacy.

Elections were held a year later, and won by Luis Arce – a close ally of Morales.

With the presidency and congress both firmly in MAS control, Morales returned to Bolivia in November 2020.

After handing over the presidential reins to Arce, Anez was detained in March 2021, charged with the illegitimate assumption of power.