…hours after the presidential palace in the capital La Paz was stormed by soldiers.
Armoured vehicles and troops had taken up position on Murillo Square where key government buildings are located. 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 is now under arrest.
President Arce condemned the coup attempt, calling on the public to “organise and mobilise… in favour of democracy”.
“We cannot allow once again coup attempts to take Bolivian lives,” he said in a televised message to the country from inside the presidential palace.
His words clearly resonated, with pro-democracy demonstrators taking to the streets in support of the government.
Mr Arce also announced he was appointing new military commanders, confirming reports that Gen Zúñiga had been dismissed after openly criticising Bolivia’s former leader, Evo Morales.
Mr Morales also condemned the coup attempt and called for criminal charges to be brought against Gen Zúñiga and his “accomplices”.The public prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal investigation.
It is increasingly clear that this was a short-lived and ill-judged military uprising rather than any wider unravelling of power.
Nevertheless, the coming weeks will be key in establishing whether Gen Zuñiga’s military insurrection was just an isolated incident.
Certainly, the government now looks more vulnerable, and others may try to dislodge Mr Arce’s administration – albeit through politics rather than via the military.
Furthermore, he could count on the support of Evo Morales, the influential former president and the elder statesman of Bolivia’s left.
Mr Morales called on his supporters, particularly in the country’s indigenous coca-growers movement, to take to the streets to demand an end to the attempt.
Peoplesmind
