UN chief advocates better use of groundwater

Coup leaders admit corruption in Bolivia’s de facto government

“The corruption of this government was terrible and has put the entire opposition in a very difficult situation,” he said in an interview published by the Brazilian newspaper O Globo.

“It was a government that had a mandate, it shouldn’t have been renewed,” said the leader of the protests that toppled constitutional President Evo Morales on the pretext of alleged electoral fraud.

The former head of the Santa Cruz Civic Committee led the three-week strike that virtually paralyzed that city, the heart of the Bolivian economy, and as he later explained, his father “closed hands” with the police and military to enlist their support coup operation.

When the now imprisoned Áñez came to power, Camacho placed two of his trusted men with the position of ministers in the cabinet: Jerjes Justiniano (president) and Fernando López (defense).

A few days before the start of one of the trials in which the former de facto president has to appear as the accused of the coup, the governor of Santa Cruz tries to keep his distance from her.

After forcing Morales’ resignation on November 10 with strikes and the support of police and military chiefs, opposition leaders and citizens’ committees convened by the Catholic Church and the European Union, they decided on the successor.

In this context, Áñez gained control of the Chamber of Senators and then the first magistracy of the highland country in legislatures without the quorum established by the constitution.

Regarding this government, Camacho told O Globo that it should not have been renewed and reiterated his desire to distance himself from Áñez, believing that “the revolution ended” when the de facto government was established “This is our duty as citizens as part of the citizen movement and national mobilization has ended,” he said.

Among the corruption cases reported against former de facto cabinet officials, surcharges on buying tear gas to quell popular protests in 2019 and buying Spanish and Chinese respirators to fight Covid-19 stand out.

Sectors working for memory, truth and justice are demanding that Camacho be charged or at least summoned as a witness in the cases dubbed Coup I and II.

In this regard, Deputy Minister of the Interior and Police Regime Nelson Cox, in statements to the Patria Nueva network, criticized the prosecutor for not citing one of the main actors in the violent events of October and November 2019.

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