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Bolivian General and Military Supporters Withdraw After Apparent Coup Attempt
A top general declared he was leading an effort to “re-establish democracy,” but he and his supporters in the armed forces later pulled back after trying to storm the presidential palace.
Members of Bolivia’s military attempted to storm the presidential palace in the capital, La Paz, on Wednesday afternoon, in an apparent coup attempt led by a top general who declared he was leading an effort to “re-establish democracy.”
Video on Bolivian television showed security forces in riot gear occupying the country’s main political square, Plaza Murillo, a camouflaged tank ramming into a palace door and soldiers trying to make their way into the palace.
Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, the general, Juan José Zúñiga disappeared, and his supporters in the armed forces pulled back and were replaced by police officers supporting the president.
The country’s democratically elected president, Luis Arce, even dared to venture into the plaza, after calling on Bolivians “to organize and mobilize against this coup and in favor of democracy.”
“Long live the Bolivian people!” he shouted in a television address. “Long live democracy!”
Local news media had reported that General Zuñiga was dismissed from his position this week, which some in the country believed to be related to remarks he made about former President Evo Morales, a mentor of Mr. Arce.
During the attempt to take over the palace, he had briefly entered the building, according to local reporters, before exiting and making a speech surrounding by masked members of the security forces. He criticized the government of Mr. Arce, a leftist, and said the military was attempting to install “a true democracy, not one for a few.”
He also called for the release of several politicians and members of the military who have been imprisoned, including two political opponents of Mr. Arce — former President Jeanine Áñez and former Gov. Luis Fernando Camacho.
“Enough of rule by a few,” the general said. “Look where that has gotten us! Our children have no future, our people have no future, and the army does not lack the balls to fight for our children’s tomorrow.”
Shortly afterward, Mr. Arce confirmed that he was replacing General Zuñiga, the commander general of the armed forces, as well as the heads of the air force and navy.
In a statement on television, the new commanding general, José Wilson Sánchez Velásquez, urged General Zuñiga “not to spill the blood of our soldiers.”
The military’s initial move on the palace was immediately criticized by some leaders in the region, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil. “Coups have never worked,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Carlos Saavedra, a Bolivian political analyst, said he saw little support in the country of 12 million for the coup attempt, calling it an “adventure of a small group of soldiers.”
“There is no mobilization in any other department of the country,” he said. “It seems like it is Zúñiga’s intimate group that wanted to latch on to the command of the general of the army.”
In 2019, Mr. Morales and other leaders, facing violent protests and under pressure from the military, stepped down and fled the country. Ms. Áñez, a senator from a right-wing party, became president.
But at the next election, a year later, voters overwhelmingly chose Mr. Arce, Mr. Morales’s handpicked successor.
Julie Turkewitz is the Andes Bureau Chief for The Times, based in Bogotá, Colombia, covering Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. More about Julie Turkewitz
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