LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Armored vehicles stormed the doors of Bolivia’s government palace on Wednesday in an apparent coup attempt, but President Luis Arce vowed to stand firm and appointed a new army chief who ordered troops to stand down.
The soldiers retreated with a line of military vehicles as hundreds of Arce supporters rushed to the square outside the palace, waving Bolivian flags and chanting.
Arce, flanked by ministers, waved to crowds of supporters who sang the national anthem. “Thank you to the Bolivian people,” he said. “Let democracy live.”
Hours later, the Bolivian general who appeared to have been behind the rebellion, Juan José Zuniga, was arrested after the public prosecutor opened an investigation against him.
Wednesday’s rebellion came after months of tensions, with economic hardship and protests increasingly mounting as two political titans – Arce and his former ally, former leftist President Evo Morales – battle for control of the ruling party.
FILE – Bolivian President Luis Arce attends an indigenous ritual before delivering his annual State of the Nation address at the presidential palace in La Paz, Bolivia, January 22, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed the doors of the Bolivian government palace Wednesday, June 26, 2024, as a senior government official warned of an attempt coup. (AP Photo/Juan Carreta, File)
However, the apparent attempt to unseat the incumbent appears to lack any real support, and even Arce’s rivals have joined forces to defend democracy and disavow the uprising.
The scene angered regional leaders and shocked Bolivians, who are no stranger to political turmoil; In 2019, Morales was ousted from his position as president after an earlier political crisis.
As the crisis unfolded on Wednesday, military vehicles poured into the square. Before entering the government building, Zuniga told reporters: “There will certainly soon be a new cabinet; “Our country and our state cannot continue like this.” Zuniga said that “for the time being” he recognized Arce as commander-in-chief.
Zuniga did not explicitly say he was leading a coup, but he said in the palace, with thunder rumbling behind him, that the army was trying to “restore democracy and release our political prisoners.”
Shortly after, Arce confronted Zuniga in the palace hallway, as seen in a video on Bolivian television. “I am your commander, I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this disobedience,” Ars demanded.
“Here we are, resolute in Casablanca, in the face of any coup attempt,” the Bolivian leader said, surrounded by ministers in the palace. We need the Bolivian people to organize. He added in a video message that he “will never again allow coup attempts to take the lives of Bolivians.”
Less than an hour later, Arce announced new commanders of the army, navy and air force to roars of supporters, thanking the country’s police and regional allies for standing by him. Ars said that the forces that revolted against him were “staining the uniform” of the army.
“I ordered all those gathered to return to their units,” newly appointed army commander Jose Wilson Sanchez said. “Nobody wants the images we see on the streets.”
Shortly after the armored vehicles left the square, with hundreds of military fighters behind them, riot police set up barricades outside the government palace.
The incident was met with a wave of anger from other regional leaders, including the Organization of American States; Gabriel Buric, president of neighboring Chile; Honduran leader, and former Bolivian leaders. A US defense official said the United States was “closely monitoring” the situation in Bolivia and urged calm.
Bolivia, a country of 12 million people, has seen intense protests in recent months over the rapid decline of its economy from one of the continent’s fastest growing two decades ago to one of its most crisis-prone.
The country also witnessed major disagreement at the highest levels of the ruling party. Arce and his former ally, leftist icon and former president Evo Morales, are fighting for the future of the dissident Movement for Socialism in Bolivia, known by its Spanish acronym MAS, before elections scheduled for 2025.
In the wake of Wednesday’s chaos, reports in local media showed Bolivians stocking up on food and other necessities in supermarkets, worried about what would happen next.
But in front of his supporters outside the presidential palace, the country’s Vice President David Choquehuanca vowed: Never again with the Bolivian people will we allow coup attempts.
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Janetsky reported from Mexico City.
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Janetsky reported from Mexico City.
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