Europe’s Far-Right Wants Ex-Dictator Jeanine Añez Freed

The European Parliament has passed a resolution demanding that Bolivian courts grant the immediate release of former dictator Jeanine Añez and two Ministers of the coup regime. The resolution received 396 votes in favor, 267 against and 28 abstentions. 

Spain’s VOX were among those who came to the defense of the coup dictatorship during Thursday’s legislative session, calling Añez’s detention arbitrary, illegal and politically motivated, as stated in the first point of the approved resolution. 

The resolution goes on to echo the position of the U.S. State Department, the Organization of American States (OAS) and Luis Almagro, whose prior statements indicated that Bolivian institutions were incapable of carrying out impartial and transparent justice, despite that the October 2020 elections represented a restoration of democracy.

Hermann Tertsch, Member of European Parliament (MEP) from VOX, denied the November 2019 coup and says the coup narrative is being used in an attempt to install communism in Bolivia, as it existed under Evo Morales and what exists in Venezuela, adding that the São Paulo Forum is trying to install communism throughout the entire region.

Vice President of the European Parliament, Dita Charanzová, known for using her position to attack leftist governments of Latin American, called for “independent judicial processes,” in sync with the demands of the State Department and OAS.

While finding themselves in the minority once again, the left struck down the move. Izquierda Unida MEP, Manu Pineda, says that no one, today, would claim dictator Augusto Pinochet yet the European Parliament has been quick to publicly align with coup leader Jeanine Añez, giving wings to the far-right in Latin America who are clearly fascists and not democrats. 

Añez is serving pretrial detention at the Miraflores prison in La Paz after having been arrested in the Golpe de Estado case where she’s accused and investigated for the crimes of sedition, terrorism and conspiracy among others. The 12-month dictator has appealed to the EU and other bodies for help.

Two of her former Ministers during the coup period, Alvaro Coímbra and Rodrigo Guzmán, are also serving pretrial detention in San Pedro prison in La Paz. 

Arrest warrants have been issued against other former functionaries, including fugitives Yerko Núñez, Arturo Murillo and Fernando López. Investigations continue into military and police chiefs who would have immediately commanded over the Huayllani, Sacaba and Senkata massacres and repression, as well as the torture and political imprisonment of anti-coup protesters and MAS leaders. Some regime officials implicated in the numerous crimes have escaped.

The European Union has long been considered an accomplice of the November 2019 coup and the Añez dictatorship and has put forth great efforts to intervene in the internal affairs of Venezuela with repeated attacks on the democratically elected government of President Nicolas Maduro. The EU was expelled from Venezuela in February, on order of President Maduro, following persistent interventionist maneuvers including sanctions against the head of the National Electoral Council (CNE) for organizing successful parliamentary elections.

Evo Morales denounced the far-right promoted interventionist resolution via Twitter: “Far-right of the European Parliament confirms with its resolution complicity in the coup d’état and in a clear interventionist attitude calls for impunity and to forget the deaths of Sacaba and Senkata. The Bolivian people have memory and dignity. Justice must fulfill a constitutional role.”

New charges could be brought against Añez by the Public Prosecutor’s Office following word from Senate President Andrónico Rodriguez this Tuesday that a formal accusation for seven additional crimes along with documented evidence had been submitted last week.