The Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through an official statement, has rejected the statements of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), 

La Paz, March 17 (RHC)-- The Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through an official statement, has rejected the statements of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, issued by him in defense of the former de facto president, Jeanine Áñez.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Plurinational State of Bolivia repudiates the opinions with which Luis Almagro seeks to damage a democratically elected government, when at the time he avoided pronouncing on human rights violations during the de facto government of Jeanine Añez, applying a double standard that attempts to favor the interests of certain political groups," the Foreign Ministry denounces in its message.

The Bolivian Foreign Ministry adds that "once again, Luis Almagro made a statement using the discourse on human rights to favor the particular and political interests he represents."  At the same time, the Bolivian Government points out that with these statements, Almagro ignores "the victims of very serious human rights violations committed by the de facto Government that abused its power to persecute, torture and murder those who have and had as political enemies".

"Mr. Almagro does not have the moral or ethical authority to refer to Bolivia, after the profound damage he did to the Bolivian people with his colonialist interference during the 2019 electoral process," the statement stresses.

At the same time, the text recalls that the actions of the de facto government "cost human lives and it must be held accountable for its biased behavior, which has discredited such an important instance for the countries of our America."

The communiqué also highlights that the coup government carried out "serious human rights violations, among others, the massacres of Sacaba and Senkata" -- which took place in November 2019.  In all, 22 civilians lost their lives.

For his part, the former Bolivian president, Evo Morales, deposed by the coup d'état of October 2019, declared on his Twitter account that "Almagro's statements are a new attack on democracy: they deny the self-proclamation of Áñez, the massacres, the 1,500 illegal detentions, persecutions and corruption in pandemic." 

The former de facto president, Jeanine Áñez, together with high military commanders and members of the coup government were arrested last week due to their direct links in the "coup d'état" case.