Former Bolivian President Anez sentenced for 10 years over 'coup'

By Muhammed Emin Canik

BUENOS AIRES (AA) - A Bolivian court has sentenced former Bolivian President Jeanine Arez to 10 years in prison for an alleged plot to topple her rival Evo Morales in 2019.

Anez, 54, was convicted on Friday of crimes "contrary to the constitution and a dereliction of duties."

Also sentenced to 10 years were former Chief of General Staff Williams Kaliman and ex-police chief Yuri Calderon.

Anez became Bolivia's interim president in November 2019 after Morales, who claimed to have won a fourth consecutive term as president, fled the country in the face of mass protests against alleged electoral fraud.

Many potential successors to Morales, all part of his MAS party, also resigned and fled, leaving rightwing Anez, then vice-president of the Senate, next in line.

She proclaimed herself interim president of the Andean nation on Nov. 12, 2019, two days after Morales' resignation. But the MAS party disputed her legitimacy.

Elections were held a year later and won by Luis Arce, an ally of Morales, who returned to Bolivia in November 2020.

Arrested in March 2021, Anez will serve 10 years in a women's prison in La Paz.