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Bolivia's interim president Jeanine Áñez promises new elections Bolivia's interim president Jeanine Áñez promises new elections
(about 4 hours later)
Ousted Evo Morales decries senate No 2’s ‘self-proclamation’ as parliament threatens to nullify her appointment Exiled leader Evo Morales repeats allegation he was victim of a rightwing coup as successor calls for election as soon as possible
Bolivia’s new interim president has pledged to hold a new election as soon as possible and condemned “revenge” acts by disgruntled supporters of fallen leader Evo Morales who resigned after protests over a disputed vote. Evo Morales, the exiled former president of Bolivia has called for dialogue with his political rivals but repeated his allegation that he was the victim of a coup, as the country’s interim leader pledged to hold new elections as soon as possible.
The senate vice-president, Jeanine Áñez, 52, assumed the interim role late on Tuesday with a Bible in her hand after Morales took refuge in Mexico following the end of his 14-year socialist rule. Speaking at a press conference in Mexico City, Morales called on Wednesday for an end to the violence which has wracked Bolivia since elections last month plagued with allegations of vote-rigging.
“God bless you and allow us to be free and to hold transparent elections soon,” she tweeted on Wednesday in a message to the country’s young people. “I have a message for the police and the armed forces: don’t stain yourselves with the blood of the people,” he said. At least eight people have been killed in three weeks of clashes across Bolivia.
Her arrival at the presidential palace faces an immediate challenge from lawmakers loyal to Morales who hold a majority in parliament and have threatened to hold a rival session to nullify her appointment. Morales dismissed an Organisation of American States report which found there had been “clear manipulations” of the vote which would have handed him his fourth term in office, and said that his rightwing opponents had plotted the coup from the night of the vote.
After weeks of violent protests over alleged election rigging and then Morales’s resignation, the highland capital La Paz was calmer on Wednesday, though dozens of his supporters protested outside looking to block access to the palace. “The OAS is not at the service of the people of Latin America. It is at the service of the USA,” he said. “We built a lot with so much sacrifice and now this coup is destroying Bolivia”.
In 48 hours of turmoil at the weekend, mutinous police joined marches, allies deserted Morales, the Organization of American States (OAS) declared his re-election was manipulated, and the military urged him to quit. As Morales spoke in exile, his successor pledged to hold a new election as soon as possible, calling for a peaceful transition from what she described as a “totalitarian regime”.
From Mexico, Morales has stayed defiant, tweeting that Áñez’s “self-proclamation” was an affront to constitutional government. “Bolivia is suffering an assault on the power of the people,” he wrote. In a message to Bolivia’s young people, Jeanine Añez tweeted: “God bless you and allow us to be free and to hold transparent elections soon.”
Supporters, including a teaching union, planned rallies for Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president who was beloved by the poor when he took power in 2006. Senate vice-president and a conservative Christian, Añez declared herself the country’s interim president late on Tuesday with outsized Bible in her hand – despite a boycott of the legislative session by lawmakers from Morales’s party.
Opponents say pressure had built to a point of no return after increasing evidence of tampering with the October vote, and that Morales had gone against the will of the people by seeking a fourth term. Even as she assumed the role, angry Morales supporters clashed with riot police on the streets of La Paz, and decried her as a racist usurper who had seized power illegally.
Bolivia’s largest union threatened a widespread strike unless politicians could restore stability, while a coca farmers’ union official and a lawmaker close to Morales called for protests until he returned to finish his mandate in January. Ruben Chambi, a lawmaker with Morales’s Movement For Socialism – which holds a two-thirds majority in Congress – described her oath of office as a “media show” and told supporters that his party would reject Morales resignation, “so that he comes back directly and resumes his functions as president”.
Áñez met on Tuesday night with the police and military, urging them to ensure peace. Morales resigned on Sunday after a tumultuous 48 hours in which police officers mutinied, the OAS said it could not verify his first-round victory and the military command urged him him to quit. He flew into exile in Mexico on Tuesday.
“What a shame revenge continues,” she tweeted to one lawmaker who said his house had been attacked by supporters of Morales’s Movement for Socialism (Mas). Bolivia’s constitutional court has said that after the resignations of Morales, his deputy and the presidents of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, Añez was next in line to assume the presidency. With no one to swear her in, she took power noting that the constitution did not need congressional approval.
Áñez, a conservative Christian, cuts a very different figure from Morales, who was Bolivia’s first indigenous president in modern times, and she immediately tried to set herself apart from her predecessor. But in the streets of La Paz, hundreds of Morales supporters waved the multi-coloured Wiphala, the flag of native people of the Andes associated with Morales’ government, shouting: “She must quit!”
Wearing the presidential sash of office, she greeted supporters at an old presidential palace instead of the modern 26-storey presidential office with a heliport that was built by Morales and that his foes had criticized as one of his excesses. “She’s declared herself president without having a quorum in the parliament,” said one protestor, Julio Chipana. “She doesn’t represent us.”
She also carried a Bible, which had been banned by Morales from the presidential palace after he reformed the constitution and recognized the Andean earth deity Pachamama instead of the Roman Catholic church. Others swore their enduring loyalty to Morales, the country’s first indigenous leader in modern times.
Bolivia’s crisis has divided international reaction, with leftwing allies echoing his allegations of a coup, and others cheering his resignation as good for democracy. “While our president and maximum leader Evo Morales is alive, the MAS will carry on,” said party youth leader Alejandro Martínez. “He may not come back tomorrow, or the day after, but that won’t stop us from taking the streets.”
Conservative-led Brazil and the UK both congratulated Áñez. Añez cuts a starkly contrasting figure with Morales.
Entering the parliament building on Tuesday night, she brandished an outsized bible, in an explicit rebuke to Morales, who banned the Christian holy book from the presidential palace when he reformed the constitution in 2009 to recognize Pachamama, the Andean Mother Earth deity instead of the Catholic Church.
“My commitment is to return democracy and tranquility to the country,” she said. “They can never again steal our vote.”
Afterwards, she greeted supporters from the balcony of the old Casa Quemado presidential palace rather than the 26-storey Casa del Pueblo skyscraper built by Morales, which opponents saw as an example of his excesses.
Her sudden move to the political centre stage prompted a closer look at racist remarks towards Bolivia’s indigenous majority on her social media accounts.
One tweet from 2013 – later deleted – describes indigenous Aymara new year’s celebrations as “satanic” and concludes: “Nobody can replace God!” In another post, she questioned whether a group of Indigenous people were genuine because they were wearing shoes.
Yerko Ihlik, a Bolivian political commentator, downplayed her potential to further polarize the country.
“The (interim) president has one mandate and that mandate to call new elections as quickly as possible,” he said. “The constitution allows 90 days by the country’s situation demands that they are sooner.”
But in a clear sign that she intends to steer the country away from the socialism of her predecessor, one of Añez’s first acts on Wednesday was to recognise opposition leader Juan Guiadó as president of Venezuela – overturning Bolivia’s support for Nicolás Maduro under Morales.
The US and Brazil were quick to offer their congratulations to Añez. “We look forward to working with her and Bolivia’s other civilian authorities as they arrange free and fair elections as soon as possible,” tweeted Michael Kozak, US assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs.