Jeanine Anez announced Thursday that she had tested positive for the coronavirus.
La Paz, Bolivia:
The interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine Anez, announced Thursday that she had tested positive for the coronavirus.
“I tested positive for COVID-19, I’m fine, I’m going to work in isolation,” she tweeted.
The 53-year-old woman said in a Twitter video that she would be quarantined for 14 days before taking another test.
Anez becomes the second South American president in a few days to contract the coronavirus after Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro announced his positive results on Tuesday.
Another senior official of the Latin American government to contract the virus is the President of the Constitutional Assembly of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, widely regarded as the second most powerful person in the country after President Nicolas Maduro.
Four members of Anez’s cabinet have tested positive in recent days.
“Since many of them tested positive in the past week, I took the test and I was also positive,” said Anez.
The interim chief’s disease occurs as Bolivia prepares for general elections in less than two months, although it is in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Anez initially opposed the September elections, but eventually gave in.
The conservative politician assumed the interim presidency in November after the resignation of former socialist leader Evo Morales and the flight from the country after three weeks of unrest following his controversial re-election.
Morales had run for a potential fourth consecutive term despite the constitution limiting a president to two successive terms.
Although he initially attempted to retain power, he lost support for the military after an Organization of American States report found evidence of electoral fraud in his victory.
Anez was third in the latest opinion poll behind Luis Arce – the Morales party candidate for the socialism movement – and former centrist president Carlos Mesa.
Bolivia, a country of 11 million people, has recorded nearly 43,000 coronavirus infections and more than 1,500 deaths.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
