Bolivia’s ex-president who oversaw bloody crackdown on protesters freed from prison

<p>Release follows supreme court ruling that overturned Jeanine Áñez’s conviction for allegedly staging coup to seize power</p><p>The former interim president who oversaw <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/20/bolivia-el-alto-violence-death-protest">a bloody crackdown on protesters in Bolivia</a> has been freed from prison after almost five years, following a supreme court ruling that overturned her conviction for allegedly staging a coup to seize power.</p><p>Jeanine Áñez, 58, left the Miraflores women’s orientation centre in La Paz on Thursday, saying that “the monster had to go” for her to walk free – a reference to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/20/bolivia-presidential-election-socialism">end of nearly two decades of rule</a> by the leftwing Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas) party.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/06/bolivia-ex-president-freed-prison">Continue reading...</a>