Jeanine Áñez
President of Bolivia from 2019 to 2020 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jeanine Áñez Chávez (Spanish pronunciation: [ɟʝeˈnine ˈaɲes ˈtʃaβes] ⓘ; born 13 June 1967) is a Bolivian lawyer, politician, and television presenter who served as the 66th president of Bolivia from 2019 to 2020. A former member of the Social Democratic Movement, she previously served two terms as senator for Beni from 2015 to 2019 on behalf of the Democratic Unity coalition and from 2010 to 2014 on behalf of the National Convergence alliance. During this time, she served as second vice president of the Senate from 2015 to 2016 and in 2019 and, briefly, was president of the Senate, also in 2019. Before that, she served as a uninominal member of the Constituent Assembly from Beni, representing circumscription 61 from 2006 to 2007 on behalf of the Social Democratic Power alliance.
Jeanine Áñez | |||||||||||||||||||
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66th President of Bolivia | |||||||||||||||||||
In office 12 November 2019 – 8 November 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
Vice President | Vacant | ||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Evo Morales | ||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Luis Arce | ||||||||||||||||||
President of the Senate | |||||||||||||||||||
In office 12 November 2019[lower-alpha 1] | |||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Adriana Salvatierra | ||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Eva Copa | ||||||||||||||||||
Second Vice President of the Senate | |||||||||||||||||||
In office 18 January 2019 – 12 November 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||
President | Adriana Salvatierra | ||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | María Elva Pinckert | ||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Carmen Eva Gonzales | ||||||||||||||||||
In office 19 January 2015 – 20 January 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||
President | José Alberto Gonzáles | ||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Jimena Torres | ||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Yerko Núñez | ||||||||||||||||||
Senator for Beni | |||||||||||||||||||
In office 18 January 2015 – 12 November 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||
Substitute | Franklin Valdivia | ||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Donny Chávez | ||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Pablo Gutiérrez | ||||||||||||||||||
In office 19 January 2010 – 10 July 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||
Substitute | Donny Chávez | ||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Mario Vargas | ||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Donny Chávez | ||||||||||||||||||
Constituent of the Constituent Assembly from Beni circumscription 61 | |||||||||||||||||||
In office 6 August 2006 – 14 December 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||
Constituency | Cercado | ||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||
Born | Jeanine Áñez Chávez (1967-06-13) 13 June 1967 (age 56) San Joaquín, Beni, Bolivia | ||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Social Democratic Movement (2013–2020) | ||||||||||||||||||
Spouse(s) |
Tadeo Ribera
(m. 1990, divorced)Héctor Hernando Hincapié | ||||||||||||||||||
Children | 2, including Carolina | ||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater |
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Occupation |
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Signature | |||||||||||||||||||
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Televised address communicating measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Bolivia, 17 March 2020. | |||||||||||||||||||
Born in San Joaquín, Beni, Áñez graduated as a lawyer from the José Ballivián Autonomous University, then worked in television journalism. An early advocate of departmental autonomy, in 2006, she was invited by the Social Democratic Power alliance to represent Beni in the 2006–2007 Constituent Assembly, charged with drafting a new constitution for Bolivia. Following the completion of that historic process, Áñez ran for senator for Beni with the National Convergence alliance, becoming one of the few former constituents to maintain a political career at the national level. Once in the Senate, the National Convergence caucus quickly fragmented, leading Áñez to abandon it in favor of the emergent Social Democratic Movement, an autonomist political party based in the eastern departments. Together with the Democrats, as a component of the Democratic Unity coalition, she was reelected senator in 2014. During her second term, Áñez served twice as second vice president of the Senate, making her the highest-ranking opposition legislator in that chamber during the social unrest the country faced in late 2019.
During this political crisis, and after the resignation of President Evo Morales and other officials in the line of succession, Áñez declared herself next in line to assume the presidency. On 12 November 2019, she installed an extraordinary session of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly that lacked quorum due to the absence of members of Morales' party, the Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP), who demanded security guarantees before attending. In a short session, Áñez declared herself president of the Senate, then used that position as a basis to assume constitutional succession to the presidency of the country endorsed by the Supreme Court of Justice.[4][5] Responding to domestic unrest, Áñez issued a decree removing criminal liability for military and police in dealing with protesters, which was repealed amid widespread condemnation following the Senkata and Sacaba massacres. Her government launched numerous criminal investigations into former MAS officials, for which she was accused of political persecution and retributive justice, terminated Bolivia's close links with the governments of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and warmed relations with the United States. After delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing protests, new elections were held in October 2020. Despite initially pledging not to, Áñez launched her own presidential campaign, contributing to criticism that she was not a neutral actor in the transition. She withdrew her candidacy a month before the election amid low poll numbers and fear of splitting the opposition vote against MAS candidate Luis Arce, who won the election.
Following the end of her mandate in November 2020, Áñez briefly retired to her residence in Trinidad, only to launch her Beni gubernatorial candidacy a month later. Despite being initially competitive, mounting judicial processes surrounding her time as president hampered her campaign, ultimately resulting in a third-place finish at the polls. Eight days after the election, Áñez was apprehended and charged with crimes related to her role in the alleged coup d'état of 2019; a move decried as political persecution by members of the political opposition and some in the international community, including the United States and European Union. Áñez's nearly fifteen month pre-trial detention caused a marked decline in her physical and mental health, and was denounced as abusive by her family. On 10 June 2022, after a three month trial, the First Sentencing Court of La Paz found Áñez guilty of breach of duties and resolutions contrary to the Constitution, sentencing her to ten years in prison. Following the verdict, her defense conveyed its intent to appeal, as did government prosecutors, seeking a harsher sentence.
Jeanine Áñez was born on 13 June 1967 in San Joaquín, Beni,[6] the youngest of seven siblings born to two teachers. Áñez spent her childhood in relative rural poverty; San Joaquín, at the time, lacked most essential services, including paved roads. Due to its limited access to power, electricity was only available at night, and her family spent long periods without light due to frequent interruptions in electrical service and a lack of diesel; water, additionally, was distributed only at scheduled times. Nonetheless, Áñez has recalled that she "had a beautiful childhood, very free" and affirmed that the town's conditions made children "grow up more open, freer, enjoying nature".[7]
From first to fifth grade, Áñez attended the 21 August School, a small, all-girls school, of which her mother was the director. After graduating high school at the age of seventeen, she left San Joaquín for La Paz to pursue studies in secretarial work, attending the Bolivian Institute before completing her education at the Lincoln Institute. After that, Áñez settled in Santa Cruz in order to further her education, completing secretarial, computing, and some English courses.[7] Later, she studied to become a lawyer at the José Ballivián Autonomous University of Beni in Trinidad, where she graduated with a degree in legal sciences and law.[8][9] Additionally, she holds diplomas in public and social management, human rights, and higher education.[10]
Before entering the political sphere, Áñez held a career in regional television journalism, including radio, which she described as her "great passion", though it was not well-paid.[11] In her first stint as a news presenter, Áñez received no salary, working under an exchange of services contract; for her work, the channel promoted the family's restaurant.[12] Later, Áñez came to serve as a presenter for the Trinidad-based television station Totalvisión, which she also later directed.[13] During this time, Áñez became an early supporter of the autonomist movement, conceived as a profound redesign of the country's existing centralized structure, expanding departmental self-determination over resources and providing for the election of regional authorities through universal suffrage. This movement, of which Áñez was a part of "from the beginning", concentrated its support in the eastern departments and represented one of the most important political and regional currents of the early 21st century in Bolivia.[14][15]
Election
[For] many of us who are in this sector, it's the first time that we're participating in politics, and that's why we're here with the best intentions ... And if you want this Assembly to be foundational, then you'll have to redraft and consult the regions if you intend to belong to this nation that you're going to refound.
— Jeanine Áñez, Address to the president of the Constituent Assembly, 29 September 2006.[16]
In the context of the social reforms Bolivia undertook in the mid-2000s, Áñez emerged as a member of the generation of lowland politicians who entered the electoral arena in support of departmental autonomy. As most experienced political leaders had opted to present their candidacies in the municipal elections of 2004 and the legislative and prefectural elections of 2005, the 2006 Constituent Assembly elections provided an opportunity for young professionals with limited preexisting involvement with political parties to stand for office for the first time. In these circumstances, Áñez was invited by the opposition Social Democratic Power (Podemos) alliance to stand as a candidate in Beni circumscription 61 (Cercado) alongside Fernando Ávila. The Podemos binomial won the district.[17][18]
Tenure
The Constituent Assembly was inaugurated in Sucre on 6 August 2006.[19] Áñez entered the assembly "with great expectations" of codifying departmental autonomy into the statutes of the new constitution of the State but soon became frustrated by long delays in the drafting process brought about by the requirement of two-thirds support for the approval of articles.[15] During her term, she held positions on the Organization and New Structure of the State Commission and the Judiciary Commission, which participated in drafting articles related to the judicial branch of the new government.[20][21]
First term (2010–2014)
2009 general election
Following the end of her term in the Constituent Assembly, Áñez remained close with Beni's prefect, Ernesto Suárez, who supported the establishment of a united opposition bloc to confront the Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP) in the 2009 general elections. The culmination of these efforts was the establishment of the political alliance Plan Progress for Bolivia – National Convergence (PPB-CN), which selected Áñez as its candidate for second senator for Beni. In this way, Áñez became one of the few former constituents who maintained a national-level political career after completing their work drafting the new constitution.[8]
Tenure
Senate directive disputes
The Senate's directive board—of which the Second Vice Presidency and Second Secretariat correspond to the opposition—was renewed in January 2011. The CN caucus nominated Áñez for the position of second vice president, though her designation failed to receive unanimity and had to be decided by a vote of the opposition legislators.[22] However, when the list of nominees was presented to be voted on by the full Senate, CN Senator Gerald Ortiz broke with the rest of his caucus and presented himself as a candidate for the position of second vice president. The opposition was ultimately unable to find consensus, leading the MAS to decide for it, electing members of both opposing blocs to different posts. Ortiz was designated second vice president while Áñez was elected second secretary, though she refused to assume the post.[23] She blamed the MAS for "endorsing transfuge" and for not abiding by the majority decision of the CN caucus.[24]
In the final year of her first term, Áñez was once again a primary figure in the internal disputes affecting the opposition. In January 2014, the Senate renewed its directive board to complete the 2010–2015 term of the Legislative Assembly. CN nominated Germán Antelo as second vice president and Áñez as second secretary but was again mired in conflict when Senator Marcelo Antezana presented himself separately for the second vice presidency. On 21 January, of the CN senators, Antelo and Antezana received a vote of six to zero, respectively, and Áñez received only five votes, leaving both disputed posts vacant due to the failure to achieve the required majority. As a result, neither Antelo nor Áñez managed to reach their originally prescribed positions, with the MAS electing Jimena Torres as second vice president and Antezana as second secretary on 24 January.[25][26]
2013 Beni gubernatorial election
In late 2012, Áñez was profiled as a potential contender to face Jessica Jordan of the MAS for the governorship of Beni in a special gubernatorial election. She was supported by CN, which presented her for consideration as a pre-candidate for the nomination due to her history as a human rights defender and her preexisting connections in the department.[27][28] Áñez faced ten other pre-candidates from various allied parties in a regional poll aimed at consolidating a single opposition candidacy for the election. Ultimately, Carmelo Lenz of Beni First emerged victorious and received the alliance's nomination.[29][30]
Second term (2015–2019)
2014 general election
During her first term, Áñez became affiliated with the political project of Santa Cruz Governor Rubén Costas. When Costas' civic group Truth and Social Democracy (Verdes) established itself as a regional political party in 2011, she attended its departmental congress as a representative for Governor Ernesto Suárez and Santa Cruz Mayor Percy Fernández.[31] In December 2013, she attended the first founding congress of the Social Democratic Movement (DEMÓCRATAS; MDS).[32] By early 2014, with the disintegration of CN as a viable political force and the dispersion of its members to other fronts, Áñez was already noted as one of the at least twenty assembly members who had joined the Democrats.[33] As part of the negotiations between the Democrats and the National Unity Front (UN) to form the Democratic Unity (UD) coalition, it was agreed that each party would define its own electoral lists in the departments in which they were most present. As a result, the MDS was allowed to designate candidates in Beni and Santa Cruz and, on 27 June 2014, Áñez—now the party's spokeswoman—announced that it had nominated her to go to reelection as its candidate for senator for Beni.[34][35]
In order to qualify as a candidate before the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Áñez resigned her Senate seat on 10 July, ending her term early.[36] Two weeks later, on 25 July, the TSE certified her substitute, Donny Chávez, as the titular senator for Beni.[37] In the elections held on 12 October, UD lost in all but one department, Áñez's home department of Beni where she was reelected as senator.[38][39]
Tenure
Unlike in the previous legislative term, the vote to form the Senate's directive board for its 2015–2016 session took place without significant controversy. Áñez was elected second vice president of the Senate by a vote of thirty-five of the thirty-six senators,[lower-alpha 2] making her the UD coalition's representative in the Senate's directive.[40] In January 2019, it was UD's turn to appoint the head of the Second Secretariat to close out the 2015–2020 Legislative Assembly. Áñez, who planned on retiring upon the completion of her term, was tapped to assume the position with all the powers it entailed. However, she opted to exchange it with Christian Democratic Senator Víctor Hugo Zamora for the "more comfortable" second vice presidency, a "not a particularly fought-for" and largely ceremonial title.[41][42][43][44]