Jeanine Áñez appoints cabinet urgently

Jeanine Áñez, interim president of Bolivia, has urgently appointed a new government to guide the country and with her sights set on holding the next elections to dislodge the country from the situation it is in. The new Bolivian leader has received the support from some Latin American countries and rejection from others. Meanwhile, the United States has run in favor of the new head of state. The new Executive is made up of eleven people, far from teams with more components, as is usual. This shows the exceptionality and urgency of the moment. This extreme has its logic since Áñez announced that the situation is circumstantial and that the objective of this new Executive is to hold elections soon. The president included in her executive ministers from her party, the Democratic Union, opposed to the Movement to Socialism (MAS ) of the resigned Evo Morales, who has the majority in Parliament.Áñez appointed the academic and career diplomat Karen Longaric as Chancellor, Minister of the Presidency to the lawyer Jerjes Justiniano, from Government to until recently senator of his party Arturo Murillo and Defense to Luis Fernando López. The Communication Ministry is occupied by the journalist Roxana Lizárraga, the Environment Ministry has former legislator María Elba Pinckert and the Justice Ministry Álvaro Coimbra. José Luis Parada is the new head of the Economy; former senator Yerko Núñez, from Public Works; Samuel Ordóñez, from Rural Development and Álvaro Guzmán, from Energías. The provisional president left other portfolios vacant for the time being, such as Hydrocarbons, Planning, Education, Health, Work and Cultures. Therefore, the new Executive is currently made up of eleven ministers.The new ministers were sworn in by God, the country, the Constitution and the “sacred memory of the martyrs” of Bolivia. Very much in the most conservative line of the new president Áñez, a Bolivian senator who raised a Bible in the Government Palace during her inauguration before her co-religionists. The turn is total with respect to the previous leftist and indigenist government of Evo Morales, who is exiled to Mexico after resigning from the presidential chair due to the pressure received by the Armed Forces and the opposition in the face of the scandal caused by the electoral fraud denounced in the last elections of October 20, which gave him victory over Carlos Mesa by a very slim margin after a dubious electoral count in which there were “serious irregularities”, according to the audit carried out by the Organization of American States (OAS). Proof of the 180 degree turn given is that there is no indigenous person in the first government team appointed by Jeanine Áñez; very unlike what his predecessor Evo Morales advocated, very focused on the most basic strata of Bolivian society, including, of course, the indigenous people.After his inauguration, Áñez decided to change the Defense leadership and the military command, a key sector at this time due to the serious disturbances that have ravaged the streets of key cities in Bolivia, such as La Paz, (seat of the Government and Parliament) and El Alto, the second most populated city in the country. they were carried out for several weeks by supporters and detractors of Evo Morales as a result of the suspicions raised by the results of the elections held in October.Up to eight people died from the altercations and the Army had to intervene because the Police were overwhelmed by the events. Parliament, with a majority of members of the MAS de Morales, has not yet ruled on the presidential change and is awaiting of the answer. Despite everything, Jeanine Áñez has had the legitimacy of the Constitutional Court of Bolivia, which gave the green light to her appointment since the Constitution allowed this possibility despite not having a majority in the Chamber due to the situation of power vacuum that existed. And it is that the MAS parliamentarians were absent from the session that led to the final appointment of the new Bolivian top leader, even though they were in possession of most of the parliamentary seats. all Latin American, has not been slow to speak On the one hand, there are the countries that have shown their support for the new president Áñez and those that remain loyal to the predecessor Evo Morales. The clash of antagonistic blocs is there and may even increase the diplomatic conflict between one side and the other. On the side that shows its support for the new president is, obviously, the United States, a great rival of the Latin American left bloc that is coming represented by Venezuela, Argentina or Uruguay, with important links with another great symbol of the global left, such as Evo Morales’ Bolivia. Thus, the US White House has recognized Jeanine Áñez as the new president. The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, was in charge of formalizing US support for Áñez “for assuming at this time of great responsibility.”And it is that the senator took a step forward taking over the presidential position from her position as second vice president of the Bolivian Senate after the resignation of Morales and the evasion of responsibilities of those who, according to the Constitution, followed him in the order of succession to the Presidency : Álvaro García Linera, vice president with Evo Morales, and Víctor Borda and Adriana Salvatierra, presidents of the Congress and the Senate respectively. Before being ‘scared’, Áñez decided to assume responsibility and that is what the US has recognized. “The United States applauds Bolivian Senator Jeanine Áñez for taking office as interim president to guide the nation in this democratic transition, under the Bolivian Constitution,” said Mike Pompeo. The recognitions to the interim president Áñez also came from nations such as Colombia, Guatemala and Brazil, countries that launched messages of support for Bolivia to get out of the quagmire it is currently in. The Government of Guatemala, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, approved in its social networks the appointment of Áñez, indicating that “it reiterates its support for all efforts to restore constitutional order and the rule of law.” The Foreign Ministry of Colombia also joined this support through the social network Twitter supporting to the Bolivian president “in her intention to advance towards a prompt holding of free, transparent elections with international observation.” Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo said that his country recognized the opposition senator as interim head of state since “the Bolivian constitutional rite is being fulfilled” and “it contributes to the pacification and normalization of the country.”On the other side are the nations that continue to support Evo Morales. Among them is the country that has sheltered the coca grower leader, that is, Mexico. The country chaired by Andrés Manuel López Obrador relies on one of its foreign policy axioms: the Estrada Doctrine, which does not grant “recognitions” from governments that may “injure sovereignty.” In this sense, the ambassador of Mexico in Bolivia, María Teresa Mercado, outlined in an interview with Radio Fórmula that the delegation accompanying Morales in Aztec lands has been welcomed without problems. Uruguay has also resorted to the postulate of recognizing only presidents elected at the polls. Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa indicated that his country only recognizes “presidents arising from elections.” The Government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela also denied the figure of the interim president, through an official statement. He considers that Áñez has carried out a “self-proclamation” and has accused him of “usurping” the position, describing what happened in the Bolivian Legislative Assembly as a “parody”. Argentina also joined the voices of rejection, including that of the president-elect , the Peronist, Alberto Fernández, pointing out that there was a “coup d’état” and explained that “there was an Army chief who called for the resignation of a president” and “a police that mutinied.”