FORMER Bolivian interim president Jeanine Anez started a hunger strike today hours before the opening of her trial on charges of genocide.

The hearing was due to open after the Morning Star went to print, but Ms Anez actions were seen as a last-ditch bid to delay justice.

She is charged with the deaths of 20 indigenous Bolivians in the Sacaba and Senkata massacres which followed the ousting of former president Evo Morales in a Washington-backed fascist coup.

Ms Anez, who declared herself interim president described the indigenous population as “devil worshippers” and mobilised the police and armed forces against them to put down protests.

Her supporters tore down the indigenous Wiphala flag as part of a campaign of brutal suppression as her coup administration consolidated its grip on power.

The Movement Towards Socialism returned to power one year after the coup and arrested several leading figures associated with what has been described as “state terrorism” unleashed on the Bolivian people.

“The people are waiting for justice,” vice-minister of communication Gabriela Alcon said, stressing that the victims of the US-backed coup deserve reparation before history.

“This is not just us saying this. That was a recommendation of the interdisciplinary group of independent experts (GIEI), which presented a report stating there must be memory, justice, truth, and reparation,” she said.

Ms Anez was arrested in March 2021 after Bolivia’s return to democracy under President Luis Arce.

But despite the clear human rights violations committed under her leadership, hawkish US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has demanded her release.