La Paz, 12 Feb. Former Bolivian Presidents Carlos Mesa (2003-2005) and Jorge ‘Tuto’ Quiroga (2001-2002) criticized this Sunday the request of the State Attorney General’s Office (PGE) to the prosecutor’s office to investigate certain bishops Catholics for the events of the political crisis of 2019.
The two former presidents reacted to a memorial, presented by the state entity on January 30, in which the public prosecutor is asked to call several members of the Bolivian Episcopal Conference to testify in the case of the “coup d’ State I”. (CEB).
In a post on Twitter, Mesa claims that the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS), the party of President Luis Arce and former President Evo Morales, “imitates” Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.
“The MAS now seeks to persecute bishops who defend democracy and human rights. Political persecution in its crudest execution,” said Mesa, who is also the leader of the main opposition party in parliament, Communidad Ciudadana (CC).
For his part, Quiroga said on the same social network as the president “Arce has become ‘Orteguiza’ by trying to crucify bishops, whom the MAS asked for mediation in 2019” and asked Pope Francis “to rule on the persecution of the Church in Bolivia”. “.
The “coup d’etat I” case, presented by a former pro-government deputy at the end of 2020, is based on the accusation of terrorism.
For this character, the former internal president Jeanine Áñez and the leader of the opposition, as well as the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, both detained in Bolivian prisons, are being prosecuted through ordinary channels.
On several occasions, the Catholic Church has underlined its mediating role during the political and social crisis of 2019 which led to the resignation of then President Evo Morales and the establishment of a transitional government led by Áñez.
In 2021, the CEB provided Pope Francis with a report on the role of the Catholic Church between October 2019 and January 2020 in which it “dismissed any accusation” of its work that was linked to “an alleged coup”. against Morales.
That day, the newspaper El Deber de Santa Cruz published fragments of the request to the prosecution to testify those who in 2019 were the vice-president of the CEB, Ricardo Centellas, the episcopal secretary, Aurelio Pesoa, and the ex -auxiliary bishop of El Alto, Giovani Arana, among others.
The role of the leaders of the Catholic Church has been questioned by the ruling party, mainly due to a meeting at the Catholic University of La Paz during which various political leaders, including members of the MAS in the time, discussed the issue of presidential succession. .
For the government, the events of 2019 were a “coup” against Morales, while for the opposition the social protests were due to electoral fraud to promote Morales’ access to a fourth consecutive term.
The relationship between the Catholic Church and the government was strained due to criticism from the religious entity of the Morales government and which became even more distant in the administration of President Luis Arce due to the events of 2019.