Equipo Nizkor - Who is Bolivian Opposition Leader Arrested Over 2019 Coup D'Etat?.

Bolivian authorities arrested and detained Santa Cruz state governor Fernando Camacho on December 28 over his role in the 2019 military coup d'etat against left-wing indigenous president Evo Morales.

Who is Fernando Camacho, the Bolivian opposition leader who now finds himself charged with high treason?

The politician from the right-wing Creemos (We Believe) alliance was arrested on Wednesday over his role in the 2019 coup against left-wing indigenous president Evo Morales in November 2019.

"The prayers of all the victims of the 2019 coup d'état and the protests of Mr Camacho were heard, and now ... we hope that he will answer for the crimes he is accused of," said Public Works Minister Edgar Montano after the arrest.

Camacho was elected in March 2021 as governor of eastern Santa Cruz department, long a hotbed of opposition -- often violent -- to the left-wing Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) government of elected in 2005.

Santa Cruz is one of the few Bolivian provinces where indigenous people, the electoral base of the MAS, are in a minority. Some 70 per cent are of full or partial European descent. The department is also one of the wealthiest in the country where the MAS has strived to alleviate poverty through state-led programmes.

He took a leading part in protests in the capital La Paz following the general election in November 2019, when opposition groups claimed Morales' victory by a 10-point margin over centrist rival Carlos Mesa -- heading off a run-off vote -- was down to ballot fraud.

The armed forces, which have long-standing links to the US military, quickly turned against Morales. They forced the president to resign and flee to Mexico and violently supressed counter-protests against his overthrow.

Camacho's platform includes a more federal constitutional model to give more autonomy to departments like his, alleging "abuses of power by the central government."

"We are going to promote the federal path. We want federalism to unify Bolivia, he said. "A federalism so that MAS respects the way of being of each province."

In Socialist Bolivia, Arce Kicks You

The triumph of the pro-Washington right was short-lived, however. Morales returned from exile in Argentina in 2020 following the victory of his MAS successor Luis Arce.

Jeanine Añez, who acted as interim president for a year following Morales' overthrow, was arrested less than three weeks after Arce's election in November 2020 and charged with

conspiracy, sedition, and terrorism over her part in the coup.

Following a trial process complicated opposition objections and their attempts to repeal the laws against terrorism, Añez was eventually convicted in June this year of a breach of presidential duties and resolutions contrary to the constitution, and sentenced to 10 years in jail.

29Dec22

Who is Bolivian Opposition Leader Arrested Over 2019 Coup D'Etat?

[Source: By James Tweedie, Sputnik, Moscow, 29Dec22]

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