(Newswire.net — November 19, 2019) — Just a month ago, it was impossible to predict that Jeanine Áñez Chávez, 52, a lawyer and politician, would be the leader of Bolivia, at least for the time being. Anez declared herself interim president on 13th of November, in the midst of a serious political crisis in the country.
At that point, she replaced the first indigenous president, Evo Morales, who was granted political asylum in Mexico.
Áñez then headed to the former presidential palace in Bolivia to be sworn in as the second president in the history of that country.
Her next action will be to appoint a team of ministers for the government in the transitional period to call for new elections, she said, “as soon as possible.” The names to be selected will be those from the police and armed forces.
Yet Morales remains a key player in Bolivian politics even from his exile in Mexico City. His party controls a majority in both houses of Congress, and he’s rejected Añez’s current role as interim president, NBC reports.
How did Jeanine rise to power?
As in Venezuela, the “shadow” of self-proclamation has loomed over this Latin American nation. For the governments of Brazil and the United States, Anez is already the legitimate interim president of Bolivia, but for her predecessor Morales, she is part of a coup and just a self-proclaimed right-wing senator.
“The Venezuelan government recognizes Jeanine Áñez as interim president of Bolivia in her mission to bring a constitutional transition to the presidential election – wrote Juan Guadio, who declared himself President of Venezuela, and has been recognized by over 50 states against leader Nicolas Maduro.
Evo Morales’ resignation came on Sunday, when armed forces said he would step down from his post to calm Bolivia.
The people of Bolivia have been on the streets for more than 20 days, since the elections, which most believe were rigged.
According to Article 169 of the Bolivian Constitution, the vice president must take over presidency when the president resigns. However, in this case, the Vice-President resigned alongside Morales.
In the line of succession, the next in line would be the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, but she also resigned because she is from the same party.
Áñez entered the Bolivian Parliament after the 2009 election. In the 2010-2015 parliamentary period, Áñez became a fierce opponent of building a road through the Isiboro Sekura National Park and indigenous territory, a project that received strong response from Indigenous groups.
In her second term as Senator, from 2015 onward, Áñez focused on preventing femicide and violence against women. She also voted against Evo Morales’ nomination for a fourth term.
Áñez is originally from a small population in the Amazonian part of Beni river.