I'm repeating myself here, but this 2019 thing is a "coup" in which:
* The ousted President had just claimed a victory in an unprecedented and unconstitutional 4th term election, after a judicial decision overruled both the constitution and the results of a failed referendum to amend the constitution to allow Morales to remain in power.
* The claimed victory in that election was widely deemed fraudulent, including by OAS (if you care what OAS thinks).
* Morales fled the country along with much of the constitutional line of succession, leaving the 2nd Vice President of the Senate to assume the presidency in the standard line of succession.
* That new president, unapologetic right-winger Jeanine Anez, promised prompt new elections and then delivered them less than a year later --- despite COVID.
* Those elections restored MAS, the Morales party, to power, and the transfer of power occurred peacefully.
* The new MAS government immediately had Jeanine Anez arrested for the "coup" in 2019, and has imprisoned her ever since, in an action that has been pretty much universally condemned by the industrialized world.
Arce has abused his power, Anez has abused her power, Morales certainly abused his power, none of this is appears new, there are people on HN that are far more authoritative about Bolivian politics than I am, the US with respect to South America sucks ass, but I doubt very much that there is any simple story to tell about what's happening here.
> unapologetic right-winger Jeanine Anez, promised prompt new elections and then delivered them less than a year later
She had no choice as the alternative by that point was a total overthrow of most major institutions of government, in which chaos she and her allies would have fared even worse than they did.
> The new MAS government immediately had Jeanine Anez arrested for the "coup" in 2019, and has imprisoned her ever since
As they should have. She was responsible for many deaths.
"Unprecedented" is easy to explain: since the military junta was overthrown in 1982 and democracy established, no president prior to Morales had ever served two consecutive terms, following a policy set by the country's constitution.
Not only was Morales final term unprecedented and unconstitutional, but it followed an attempt by Morales to amend the constitution via referendum, which failed.
Bolivia has notoriously pliant judiciary; that judiciary was used not just by MAS but also by Anez and by Morales predecessors to suppress dissent. Human Rights Watch is one place to go for analysis of the problems of the Bolivian judiciary, which does not function like that of the US or European states.
I understand you you might not care what OAS thinks, but Morales did: he ordered the OAS audit and conceded its results.
Anez assumed power after 3 layers of the Morales constitutional line of succession, all MAS party members, resigned in protest, thus assuring that the MAS opposition would assume power. It was a spectacular own-goal for MAS, and despite it, Anez' Democratic Socialist party immediately handed power back to MAS after the election that they timely called.
I would be interested in sources from western countries that have defended the imprisonment of Anez. There must be some. Thanks in advance!
I have no expertise in Bolivian politics. I read things, just like everyone else does. My opinions about US involvement in South America was set by the Jesuits in high school, who made us watch Romero and read Eduardo Galeano.
But when I read things here referring to the 2019 coup, I'm going to point out that unlike most of the US-backed coups of the Cold War, there is another side to this story. You might read the European Parliament resolution condemning Anez' imprisonment for another formulation of the same point. That Anez handed power off, almost immediately, to MAS, which then imprisoned her, is pretty dispositive for me. But we don't have to agree.
* The ousted President had just claimed a victory in an unprecedented and unconstitutional 4th term election, after a judicial decision overruled both the constitution and the results of a failed referendum to amend the constitution to allow Morales to remain in power.
* The claimed victory in that election was widely deemed fraudulent, including by OAS (if you care what OAS thinks).
* Morales fled the country along with much of the constitutional line of succession, leaving the 2nd Vice President of the Senate to assume the presidency in the standard line of succession.
* That new president, unapologetic right-winger Jeanine Anez, promised prompt new elections and then delivered them less than a year later --- despite COVID.
* Those elections restored MAS, the Morales party, to power, and the transfer of power occurred peacefully.
* The new MAS government immediately had Jeanine Anez arrested for the "coup" in 2019, and has imprisoned her ever since, in an action that has been pretty much universally condemned by the industrialized world.
Arce has abused his power, Anez has abused her power, Morales certainly abused his power, none of this is appears new, there are people on HN that are far more authoritative about Bolivian politics than I am, the US with respect to South America sucks ass, but I doubt very much that there is any simple story to tell about what's happening here.