Bolivian police have arrested the leader of an apparent attempted coup, hours after the presidential palace in La Paz was stormed by soldiers.
Hundreds of troops and armored vehicles had taken up position on Murillo Square where key government buildings are located. One armored vehicle smashed down the main gate of the presidential palace, allowing soldiers to enter. They all later withdrew.
The rebel military leader in charge, Gen Juan José Zúñiga, had said he wanted to “restructure democracy” and that while he respected President Luis Arce for now, there would be a change of government. He was later arrested.
Gen Zúñiga was removed from his role on Tuesday after he made inflammatory comments about Bolivia‘s former president, Evo Morales, during an interview the previous day, Defence Minister Edmar Raúl Prado identified the enemies of democracy in a news conference, saying those arrested were members of the armed forces who belong to the 251 Elite Anti-riot Tactical Unit.
Reiterating that the situation was under control, Interior Minister Juan Carlos Polayo said the plot was aimed at destabilizing the constitution and democratic order and creating chaos.
President Arce has called the coup attempt a possibility, urging the public to “organize and mobilise… in favour of democracy”. He further said: “We cannot allow once again coup attempts to take Bolivian lives”, in a TV address to the nation at the presidential palace. Clearly, his works have resonated as pro-democracy protesters flocked into the streets to support the government.
In the footage, he could also be heard asking Gen Zúñiga to step aside and urged him to “ return to the barracks ” evidently filmed at the presidential palace. Finally, he confirmed the dismissal of the Gen Zúñiga and the induction of the new military commanders after earlier reports confirmed his dismissal on allegations of criticising Mr. Morales openly.
Mr Morales, who also rejected the coup attempt, called for criminal charges to be brought against Gen Zúñiga and his “accomplice”.
The public prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal investigation. Vice-Adm Juan Arnez Salvador, the head of the Bolivian Navy, has also ben arrested.
Gen Zúñiga’s exact motives for launching the coup remain unclear.
He was sacked after appearing on television on Monday, saying he would arrest Mr Morales if he stood for president again.
Mr Morales was forced to resign in October 2019 after he was asked by army chiefs to step down, following months of protests and amid the mounting pressure from his allies.
Addressing reporters from Murillo Square after troops loyal to the president denied access, he said: “This group of vandals has been destroying the country, spreading terror, causing road blocks, attacking hospitals, ambulances, homes and institutions.
” Referring to his months-long slump in opinion polls, he added: “They have a court to overthrow me but the one that overrules is the people.”
However, moments before his arrest, the general told journalists that the president had ordered him to remove the “blindados” to try to address his falling popularity. He was then pushed into to a waiting police vehicle.
“The economic, social and judicial situation of the country has led the president to today’s decree. This is an assault on the rule of law and democracy,” said opposition Senator Andrea Barrientos.
“I will say that the government has a lot of questions to answer to the people of Bolivia, and they need to explain this situation very well,” she added. “We will say that we need a deep investigation about this situation.”
The message is now becoming clearer that this was a short-lived, and ultimately poorly executed, military rising rather than any wider shedding of power. Nevertheless, it is clear that the coming weeks will be crucial in determining whether General Beck raised military insurrection was isolated.
The administration looks more vulnerable than ever, and others will try to remove Mr. Arce – again. However, they will do so through politics rather than the military.
Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous president and a close ally of Mr. Arce’s, called on his followers to take to the street to fight the coup attempt, primarily through the country’s indigenous coca-growers movement.
The show of people’s power helped bolster the defences against General Zuñiga’s plot and roll back the “political prisoners” that he said would be freed, including the last leader, Janine Anez.
Mr Arce and his predecessor are members of the same political party, though they have been entangled in internal political fights. Their union has been a concern among some Bolivians, including Gen Zúñiga, who are worried that Mr Morales may decide to run for another term in office.
His term would come after he tried to bypass the constitution and run for a fourth term in 2019. Although Mr Morales went on to win the vote, he was compelled to resign and flee the country following violent protests.
Bolivia’s interim leader between 2019-20 was a center-right Jeanine Áñez, who has been sentenced to 10 years in jail over assail to oust her predecessor Mr Morales which prosecutors claimed efforts of coup. The incumbent president, Mr Arce, eventually won a re-run vote in 2020.
Where former allies, Mr Arce and Mr Morales had not agreed on much lately, they were united in condemning the troops used to impose political order on a nation.
Before Mr Morales’ first victory in December 2005, to bring down his predecessor – the 160th president in the 180-year history of independent Bolivia – had required nothing short of war.
His time in power had been good for Bolivia, bringing it the political stability that was extended to him beyond his time in office.
Arce, having survived a discredited election in 2019, and being elected into the presidency after a period of instability, would have been encouraged by the quickness of the regional reaction.
He would have taken heart, for example, from the speed with which his closest allies – the other left-wing administrations in the neighbourhood in Venezuela, Colombia – did to condemn what they were seeing and demand that democracy return. Washington also called for peace.
Santiago Peña, the president of the center-right in Paraguay, also condemned what was reported as a failed coup.
However, nobody in Bolivia even those who are against the socialist rule would like to see a come back of a dark era in South America when the militaries with horrible human rights records regularly overthrew the country’s legally elected leaders.
Jhanisse Vaca Daza who is a human rights activist noted that she was afraid that Mr. Arce would use the reported coup as an excuse to crush his rivals. She added :
It will legitimise and give Arce’s and Garcia Linera’s government more power to arrest new members of the opposition who they deem may be a threat to their governability.
“The suspicion for many people that are currently Legislative Assembly members is that this could also lead to either closing the Legislative Assembly or arresting members that may be presumed to have teamed with the military.” Source
