Two Bolivian military leaders have been arrested Wednesday after troopers and tanks took up place in entrance of presidency buildings in what President Luis Arce referred to as an tried coup.
The troops and tanks entered Plaza Murillo, a historic sq. the place the presidency and Congress are located, within the afternoon, prompting world condemnation of an assault on democracy.
One of many tanks tried to interrupt down a metallic door of the presidential palace.
Surrounded by troopers and eight tanks, the now-dismissed military chief Common Juan Jose Zuniga stated the “armed forces intend to restructure democracy, to make it a real democracy and never one run by the identical few folks for 30, 40 years.”
AFP reporters noticed troopers and tanks pulling again from the sq. shortly after. The rebellion lasted about 5 hours.
Zuniga was captured and compelled right into a police automotive as he addressed reporters outdoors a navy barracks afterward Wednesday, footage on state tv confirmed.
“Common, you’re beneath arrest,” Deputy Inside Minister Jhonny Aguilera instructed Zuniga.
A second senior navy officer Juan Arnez Salvador, who was head of the Bolivian navy, was additionally arrested Wednesday evening.
Salvador’s arrest was introduced by Inside Minister Eduardo del Castillo, who stated that Zuniga and Arnez are “two navy coup leaders who tried to destroy democracy and the institutionality of our nation and failed.”
Talking from a balcony of the federal government palace, Arce instructed a whole lot of supporters that “Nobody can take away the democracy we have now gained.”
He had urged “the Bolivian folks to arrange and mobilize towards the coup d’etat in favor of democracy,” in an earlier televised message to the nation alongside his ministers contained in the presidential palace.
He fired Zuniga and Salvador and swore in a brand new set of navy leaders.
Earlier than he was arrested, Zuniga instructed reporters that the president had instructed him to stage an rebellion, in an effort to set off a crackdown that may make him look robust and enhance his sagging approval ranking.
At a gathering Sunday, the final stated, Zuniga requested Arce “so we deliver out armored autos?” He stated the president answered, “deliver them out.”
Arce’s directions have been to “stage one thing to boost his recognition,” Zuniga stated.
Former president Evo Morales wrote on social media platform X that “a coup d’etat is brewing” and urged a “nationwide mobilization to defend democracy.”
– Zuniga’s anti-democratic remarks –
Bolivia is deeply polarized after years of political instability and the ruling Motion In the direction of Socialism (MAS) celebration is riven by inside battle between supporters of Arce and his former mentor Morales.
Morales, who was Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, was extraordinarily widespread till he tried to bypass the structure and search a fourth time period in workplace in 2019.
The leftist and former coca union chief gained that vote however was compelled to resign amid lethal protests over alleged election fraud, and fled the nation.
He returned after Arce gained the presidency in October 2020.
Since then an influence battle has grown between the 2 males, and Morales has more and more criticized the federal government and accused it of corruption, tolerating drug trafficking, and sidelining him politically.
Six months in the past, the Constitutional Courtroom disqualified Morales from the 2025 elections, nevertheless he’s nonetheless looking for nomination because the MAS candidate.
Arce has not stated whether or not he’ll search re-election.
Zuniga appeared on tv on Monday and stated he would arrest Morales if he insisted on working for workplace once more in 2025.
“Legally he’s disqualified, that man can’t be president of this nation once more,” he stated.
Since that interview, rumours have swirled that Zuniga was on the verge of being dismissed.
– Requires calm –
The US administration of Joe Biden stated it was holding a detailed eye on occasions in Bolivia and “requires calm,” in response to a spokesperson for the Nationwide Safety Council.
United Nations Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres was “deeply involved” by occasions in Bolivia and referred to as on all actors, together with the navy, to “defend the constitutional order and to protect a local weather of peace”, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated in an announcement.
Condemnations of the troop actions additionally poured in from throughout Latin America, with leaders of Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela calling for democracy to be revered.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on X: “I’m a lover of democracy and I need it to prevail all through Latin America. We condemn any type of coup d’etat in Bolivia.”
The Group of American States (OAS) stated the worldwide group would “not tolerate any type of breach of the respectable constitutional order in Bolivia.”
AFP