Alleged coup d’état in Bolivia: OAS’ Almagro calls allegations against him ‘infamous’

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Uruguayan Luis Almagro, has dismissed as “infamy” the accusations that he was involved in the alleged coup d’état in Bolivia in 2019, claiming that he did not recognize the constitutionality of the government of Jeanine Áñez.

Almagro asserted that the OAS was “the only” institution inclined to respect the mandate of former President Evo Morales after the October 2019 elections that triggered a serious political crisis in the Andean nation.

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Regarding the constitutionality of the government of former President Áñez, he defended at a roundtable on the occasion of the presentation of a book, an intervention taken up by the Bolivian press, that “Bolivian leaders like (President) Luis Arce or (government spokesman Jorge) Richter recognized this first.”

The OAS secretary-general specifically referred to a message published on his Twitter account on Nov. 15, 2019, stressing that in it he does not recognize the constitutionality of Áñez because “she had no elements, I recognize that she spoke for the transitional government, that’s the only thing.”

In the message, Almagro says he had a conversation with the former president, whom he calls the president of the provisional government of Bolivia. Áñez “thanked him” for the call and “his recognition of our transitional government” in a later message.

During Wednesday’s meeting of the OAS Permanent Council, Bolivia will make known its protest against a statement by the organization’s General Secretariat that found irregularities in the 2019 elections.

Evo Morales was declared the winner of the 2019 presidential elections, in which he sought a fourth term. His main rival, Carlos Mesa, who came in second, spoke of a “gigantic fraud.”

The parties agreed to the Organization of American States (OAS) audit, which found “irregularities.” Morales resigned on Nov. 10 amid a wave of violence that left more than 30 people dead. Jeanine Áñez, then the “number two” in the Senate, appointed herself interim president to fill the power vacuum.

Morales, Arce, and members of his Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) party have repeatedly accused Almagro of helping to instigate the alleged post-election coup d’état, which the OAS secretary general denies.