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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Tue Sep 15, 2020, 06:18 AM Sep 2020

Bolivia government abusing justice system against Morales and allies - report


Human Rights Watch report accuses administration of Jeanine Áñez of overseeing legal offensive against people linked to Morales

Tom Phillips Latin America correspondent

Fri 11 Sep 2020 13.33 EDT

Bolivia’s rightwing caretaker government is abusing the justice system to wage a politically motivated witch-hunt against former president Evo Morales and his allies, a new report by Human Rights Watch claims.

The report accuses the US-backed administration of Jeanine Áñez – who became interim leader after Morales was forced into exile last November – of overseeing a legal offensive against more than 100 people linked to Bolivia’s first indigenous president.

The group claimed prosecutors had charged some Morales backers with terrorism for simply speaking to him on the phone.

Morales, who now lives in Argentina, himself faces terrorism charges relating to an alleged phone call in November 2019 in which authorities claim he urged protesters to blockade Bolivia’s de facto capital, La Paz.

José Miguel Vivanco, Human Rights Watch’s Americas director, said Áñez’s government was trying to give a facade of legality to a campaign against political foes.

“The interim government is using the justice system as a weapon against Morales for political reasons,” he said.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/11/bolivia-justice-system-evo-morales-allies-human-rights-watch-report
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