Bolivia’s political scene was rocked on Thursday, November 6, 2025, as former interim president Jeanine Áñez walked free from the Miraflores women’s orientation centre in La Paz. Her release, broadcast live on national television, followed a dramatic Supreme Court ruling that overturned her conviction and ended more than four years of preventive detention tied to her controversial ascent to power in 2019. The decision has not only transformed Áñez’s personal fate but also sent ripples through a nation still reckoning with the legacies of political upheaval, violence, and polarized narratives about democracy and justice.
Áñez, now 58, emerged from prison clutching a Bolivian flag and declaring, “the monster had to go for me to return to life.” According to The Guardian, she added, “the monster had to go for it to be recognised that there was never a coup d’état in this country – what there was, was an electoral fraud that drove all Bolivians to rise up.” Her words referenced not only her own ordeal but also the end of nearly two decades of rule by the leftwing Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party, which has dominated Bolivian politics since Evo Morales first took office in 2006.
Áñez’s story is deeply entwined with Bolivia’s recent political turbulence. She was the second vice-president of the senate when, on November 12, 2019, she assumed the interim presidency just two days after Morales and all other officials in the constitutional line of succession resigned. Morales’s attempt to secure a controversial fourth term that year—despite constitutional limits—sparked a national crisis. A sudden blackout during the vote count, followed by results declaring Morales the winner, led to widespread protests and accusations of electoral fraud. The unrest was so severe that Morales eventually fled to Mexico, leaving a power vacuum that Áñez stepped in to fill.
Her assumption of the presidency was immediately contested. Supporters of Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, branded it a coup, a view bolstered by Áñez’s decision to postpone presidential elections initially scheduled for May 2020, citing the Covid-19 pandemic. Her interim government was marred by fierce protests, which were met with what human rights organizations described as brutal repression. Reports cited by The Guardian detailed systematic torture and the summary execution of more than 20 protesters, painting a grim picture of the state’s response to dissent during her tenure.
The legal and political fallout from those turbulent months set the stage for Áñez’s imprisonment. In June 2022, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly placing herself illegally in the constitutional line of succession. Her preventive detention stretched over four years, as legal proceedings dragged on and the political climate remained fraught. Throughout, Áñez maintained her innocence and insisted that her rise to the presidency was not a coup but a constitutional necessity in the face of national chaos.
On Thursday, November 6, 2025, the Supreme Court delivered a striking verdict. It annulled Áñez’s conviction, declaring that her actions in 2019 constituted “a constitutional necessity aimed at preserving the institutional continuity of the Bolivian state.” This legal reversal not only freed Áñez but also upended the official narrative that had cast her as a usurper. The timing was significant: just days before the inauguration of president-elect Rodrigo Paz Pereira, who is set to replace Luis Arce of MAS on Saturday, November 8.
Rodrigo Paz’s impending swearing-in marks another pivotal transition in Bolivia’s political saga. The 58-year-old president-elect, who will take office amid the country’s worst economic crisis in four decades, represents a shift away from MAS dominance. Luis Arce, the outgoing president and Morales’s protégé, abandoned plans to seek re-election amid mounting unpopularity—a sign of the shifting tides in Bolivian politics. Áñez, for her part, has been invited to Paz’s inauguration, according to Reuters and national television reports, signaling a potential effort at national reconciliation or at least a symbolic closing of a tumultuous chapter.
Áñez’s release and the Supreme Court’s ruling have reignited fierce debate across Bolivia’s political spectrum. Supporters of the MAS party and Morales continue to view her interim presidency as illegitimate, pointing to the violence and repression that characterized her time in office. Human rights advocates have not forgotten the reports of systematic abuses, and families of those killed during the protests remain vocal in their demands for accountability. On the other hand, Áñez’s allies and many in the opposition argue that her actions were justified by extraordinary circumstances—a desperate bid to preserve constitutional order when the country teetered on the brink of chaos.
The Supreme Court’s decision to frame Áñez’s presidency as a “constitutional necessity” rather than a coup is likely to shape the historical memory of this period. It also raises thorny questions about how societies should judge leaders who act in moments of crisis. Was Áñez a usurper, as her critics claim, or a reluctant caretaker thrust into an impossible situation? The court’s ruling does not erase the pain or controversy of 2019, but it does provide legal vindication for Áñez and her supporters.
For Áñez herself, the end of her detention is both a personal and political victory. She initially entered the 2020 presidential race but withdrew due to poor polling, paving the way for Arce’s victory. Her years behind bars have made her a symbol—either of resistance to MAS or of impunity for state violence, depending on one’s perspective. As she prepares to attend the inauguration of President-elect Paz Pereira, her future role in Bolivian politics remains uncertain. Will she seek to re-enter public life, or will she serve as a cautionary tale about the costs of power in times of upheaval?
The broader context of Áñez’s release cannot be ignored. Bolivia remains deeply divided, its wounds from the 2019 crisis far from healed. The economic challenges facing the new administration are formidable, and the country’s political institutions are still struggling to regain public trust. The Supreme Court’s decision, while momentous, is unlikely to settle all debates about legitimacy, justice, and the rule of law.
Yet for one day, at least, the streets of La Paz witnessed a moment of closure as Jeanine Áñez walked free, her words echoing the hopes and grievances of a nation still searching for stability. As Bolivia prepares to turn the page with a new president and a new chapter, the legacy of 2019—and of those who rose and fell in its aftermath—will continue to shape its future.
