The trial for the Coup d'Etat II case entered the phase of the testimony of witnesses against former president Jeanine Áñez, who is following the hearing virtually. For the defense of Áñez, so far the witnesses do not support the accusations of the Prosecutor's Office against her defendant.
La Paz.- Among the witnesses for the prosecution are the former Minister of Defense Javier Zavaleta and the former director of the Financial Investigations Unit (UIF) Teresa Morales, who in the days of the crisis were together with the former president of the Senate Adriana Salvatierra.
"I was in charge of the Armed Forces, basically trying to contain possible aggressions against former President Evo Morales by some military. There was insubordination at that time," recalled Zavaleta, who was one of the last ministers to leave his post after Morales' resignation on November 10, 2019.
The face-to-face hearing was installed in the Departmental Court of Justice, where several of those summoned for charge and discharge were present.
"None of them have demonstrated a coup d'état, it has not been demonstrated, for example, one of the crimes that are resolutions contrary to the Constitution and the laws, that Jeanine Áñez would have ordered military and police to generate a coup d'état to take over the Presidency, none of them have indicated that, moreover, they have indicated that they have not received instructions from Jeanine Áñez either directly or indirectly", said the lawyer of the former president Alaín Canedo.
Morales affirmed this Monday that the "nobodies" decided that Áñez would assume the presidency of Bolivia in November 2019, during the post-electoral conflicts, in allusion to the extra-legislative meeting of civic and opposition politicians at the Bolivian Catholic University (UCB).
"I have been a witness in some meetings that they have tried to have Mrs. Áñez proclaimed as president, the Assembly did not consider her appointment as president," affirmed the former minister and witness for the prosecution.
Áñez and former military chiefs are being tried for the crimes of resolutions contrary to the Constitution and the laws, and breach of duties. For this Tuesday, the witnesses presented by the Ministry of Government and the Attorney General's Office are expected to finish testifying. Witnesses presented by the former president will immediately follow.
What is being judged in this trial is how Áñez took over the presidency of the Senate, which later allowed her to take over the Presidency of Bolivia, in a session without a quorum and being in the minority, a fact that is not allowed by the Senate Debate Regulations, according to the prosecutor's accusation. (RHC)
