By Daniel Ramos
LA PAZ (Reuters) – Bolivian forces withdrew from the presidential palace in La Paz on Wednesday evening and a general was arrested after President Luis Arce condemned an attempted coup against the government and called for international support.
Earlier in the day, military units led by General Juan Jose Zuniga, recently stripped of his military command, had gathered in the central square of Plaza Murillo, home to the presidential palace and Congress. A Reuters witness saw an armored vehicle ram a door of the presidential palace and soldiers rush inside.
“Today the country is facing an attempted coup. Today the country is again confronted with interests, so that democracy in Bolivia is broken down,” Arce said in comments from the presidential palace, with armed soldiers outside.
“The Bolivian people have gathered today. We need the Bolivian people to organize and mobilize against the coup in favor of democracy.”
A few hours later, a Reuters witness saw soldiers withdraw from the square and police take control of the square. Bolivian authorities arrested Zuniga and took him away, although their destination was unclear.
At the presidential palace, Arce José Wilson Sanchez, as military commander, swore in Zuniga’s former role. He called for the restoration of peace and order.
“I order that all personnel mobilized on the streets return to their units,” Sánchez said. “We beg that the blood of our soldiers may not be shed.”
The United States says it is closely monitoring the situation and urges calm and restraint.
Tensions are rising in Bolivia ahead of the 2025 general elections, with the left-wing ex-president Evo Morales They plan to take on former ally Arce, creating a major rift in the ruling Socialist Party and creating greater political uncertainty.
Many do not want a return for Morales, who ruled from 2006 to 2019, when he was ousted amid widespread protests and replaced by a conservative interim government. Arce then won the 2020 election.
Zuniga recently said Morales should not be allowed to return as president and threatened to block him if he tried, prompting Arce to remove Zuniga from his post.
Before the attack on the presidential palace, Zuniga had addressed reporters in the square and cited growing anger in the landlocked country, which is facing an economic slump with depleted central bank reserves and pressure on the Boliviano currency as gas exports has dried up.
“The three heads of the armed forces have come to express our dissatisfaction,” Zuniga told a local TV station, calling for a new cabinet of ministers.
“Stop destroying, stop impoverishing our country, stop humiliating our military,” he said in full uniform, flanked by soldiers, stressing that the action taken was supported by the public.
Zuniga told reporters later Wednesday that Arce had asked him on Sunday to “set something up” to boost his popularity, without providing evidence.
Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo later said that Zuniga was trying to gain popular support and that the nine people injured in the attempt proved that “this was not an exercise.”
‘STRONGEST CONDEMNATION’
Morales, head of the ruling socialist party MAS, said his supporters would mobilize in support of democracy.
“We will not allow the armed forces to violate democracy and intimidate people,” Morales said.
Bolivia’s public prosecutor’s office said it would launch a criminal investigation against Zuniga and others involved in the coup attempt.
Public support for Arce and Bolivia’s democracy has poured in, both from regional leaders and beyond.
“We issue the strongest condemnation of the attempted coup in Bolivia. Our total support and support for President Luis Alberto Arce Catacora,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on X.
Even conservative political opponents of the government in Bolivia condemned the military action, including ex-president Jeanine Anez, who was jailed in 2022 amid political unrest.
“I strongly reject the mobilization of the army in the Plaza Murillo, which is trying to destroy the constitutional order,” she wrote on .”
(Reporting by Daniel Ramos; Writing by Anthony Esposito and Adam Jourdan; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Stephen Coates)
