An apparent coup attempt in Bolivia has failed and rogue commanders who laid siege to the government palace fled.
Armored vehicles rammed the doors and soldiers stormed government buildings on Wednesday as a top government official warned of an attempted coup.
The country’s President Luis Arce came face-to-face with the general commander of the Army Juan José Zúñiga in the hallway of the Palacio Quemado as chaos unfolded in the capital, La Paz.
But Arce vowed to stand firm and slammed the ‘irregular’ deployment of troops as tanks and military men swarmed municipal buildings and tear gas filled the streets.
Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia’s government palace Wednesday as a top government official warned of an attempted coup
The country’s President Luis Arce came face-to-face with the general commander of the Army Juan José Zúñiga in the hallway of the Palacio Quemado as chaos unfolded in the capital, La Paz
Less than an hour later, Arce announced new heads of the army, navy and air force amid the roar of supporters, and thanked the country’s police and regional allies for standing by him.
Arce said the troops who rose against him were ‘staining the uniform’ of the military.
‘I order all that are mobilized to return to their units, said the newly named army chief José Wilson Sánchez. ‘No one wants the images we’re seeing in the streets.’
The soldiers pulled back along with a line of military vehicles as hundreds of Arce’s supporters rushed to the square outside the palace, waving Bolivian flags and cheering.
Arce, surrounded by ministers, waved at the throngs of supporters who sung the national anthem. ‘Thank you to the Bolivian people,’ he said. ‘Let democracy live on.’
The country’s President Luis Arce said an ‘irregular’ deployment of troops was taking place in the capital La Paz as dramatic scenes emerged from the streets
Troops line up alongside an armored truck outside the presidential palace at the Plaza Murillo
Hours later, the Bolivian general who appeared to be behind the rebellion, Juan José Zúñiga, was arrested after the attorney general opened an investigation against him.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the charges were against him.
However, shortly before his arrest Zúñiga claimed Arce asked him to storm the palace in a political move.
‘The president told me: ‘The situation is very screwed up, very critical It is necessary to prepare something to raise my popularity’,’ Zúñiga told reporters.
Zúñiga sajd he asked Arce if he should ‘take out the armored vehicles?’ and Arce replied, ‘Take them out.’
Wednesday’s rebellion followed months of tensions, with economic hardship and protests growing ever stronger as two political titans — Arce and his one-time ally, leftist former President Evo Morales — battled for control of the ruling party.
Military police line up during the coup attempt on Wednesday
A soldier in a gas mask drives an armored vehicle towards the door of the presidential palace
Still, the apparent attempt to depose the sitting president appeared to lack any meaningful support, and even Arce’s rivals closed ranks to defend democracy and repudiate the uprising.
Before entering the government building, Zúñiga the told journalists: ‘Surely soon there will be a new Cabinet of ministers; our country, our state cannot go on like this.’
Zúñiga said that ‘for now,’ though, he recognized Arce as commander in chief.
Zúñiga did not explicitly say he was leading a coup, but in the palace, with bangs echoing behind him, he said the army was trying to ‘restore democracy and free our political prisoners.’
Video on Bolivian television showed Arce confronting Zúñiga and saying: ‘I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination’.
A woman walks away from tear gas fired by military troops outside the Quemado Palace during the attempted coup
A soldier gestures for journalists to leave Plaza Murillo as soldiers gather outside the presidential palace in Plaza Murillo
Surrounded by ministers in the palace, the Bolivian leader said: ‘Here we are, firm in Casa Grande, to confront any coup attempt. We need the Bolivian people to organize.’
He added in a video message that he would not ‘allow, once again, coup attempts to take the lives of Bolivians.’
Bolivian television showed two tanks and a number of men in military uniform in front of the government palace.
‘We cannot allow, once again, coup attempts to take the lives of Bolivians,’ he said from inside the palace, surrounded by government officials, in a video message sent to news outlets.
Former President Evo Morales, also in a message on X, denounced the movement of the military in the Murillo square outside the palace, calling it a coup ‘in the making.’
Bolivia has seen intensifying protests over the dramatic decline of the nation’s economy
Military Police stand amid tear gas they fired outside the presidential palace in Plaza Murillo
María Nela Prada, minister of the presidency and a top Bolivian official, called it an ‘attempted coup d´etat.’
‘The people are on alert to defend democracy,’ she said to local television station Red Uno.
Speculation has been growing since Tuesday that Zuniga was on the verge of being dismissed as head of the Army.
He appeared on state television on Monday and threatened to arrest Morales if he insisted on running for office again, despite being disqualified from doing so.
The carnage was met with a wave of outrage by other regional leaders, including the Organization of American States; Gabriel Boric, the president of neighboring Chile; Honduras´s leader, and former Bolivian leaders.
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
Soldiers walk amid tear gas they fired outside the Legislative Assembly in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia
Bolivia, a country of 12 million people, has seen intensifying protests in recent months over the economy’s decline from one of the continent’s fastest-growing two decades ago to one of its most crisis-stricken.
The country also has seen a high-profile rift at the highest levels of the governing party.
Arce and his one-time ally, leftist icon and former President Morales, have been battling for the future of Bolivia’s splintering Movement for Socialism, known by its Spanish acronym MAS, ahead of elections in 2025.
The last attempted coup in Bolivia was in 1984, but since 1950 has seen more than any other country in the world.
Soldiers block the street in front of the presidential palace, right, and the Legislative Assembly, left, in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Soldiers gather outside the Legislative Assembly in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia
