Jeanine Añez Appoints Herself President of Bolivia: No Quorum

Opposition Senator Jeanine Áñez declared herself president of Bolivia on Tuesday, despite not meeting with the constitutional requirements for such a move, as Parliament did not achieve a quorum because the lawmakers of the Movement to Socialism (MAS) could not attend, due to a lack of guarantees for their security. MAS has a majority in Parliament.

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"I immediately assume the presidency of the State and I undertake to take all necessary measures to pacify the country," said Áñez, who is the second vice president of the Senate of Bolivia and from the right-wing Social Democratic Movement.

The senator proclaimed herself president only with a minimum presence of deputies, all from the opposition. 

On Tuesday, an extraordinary session of both chambers (Deputies and Senate) of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (Parliament) was convened, but the representatives of the Movement to Socialism, which are the majority, did not attend because they did not have guarantees for their safety and that of their family members, therefore, Parliament had suspended its session due to the lack of quorum.

Bolivia is going through a political crisis after the forced resignation of President Evo Morales, his vice president Álvaro García Linera, and presidents of the Deputies and Senator's chambers, due to the wave of opposition violence that lashed out at indigenous and peasant population.

The coup was consumed when the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a preliminary report on alleged irregularities in the electoral process of October 20, as well as the "suggestion" of the Armed Forces for Morales to resign.

Violence in the country continues by radical opposition groups that have burned symbols of the indigenous population. Meanwhile, in La Paz, thousands of supporters of Evo Morales are being mobilized in rejection of the coup d'état and its discriminatory and racist acts.