Supporters of President Luis Arce chase soldiers fleeing Plaza Murillo after the failed coup attempt in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024.
Juan Carrita/AP
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Juan Carrita/AP
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Armored vehicles stormed the gates of Bolivia’s government palace on Wednesday in an apparent coup, but President Luis Arce vowed to stand firm and appointed a new army commander who ordered troops to halt operations.
The soldiers retreated behind a line of military vehicles as hundreds of Arce’s supporters rushed to the square outside the palace, waving Bolivian flags and cheering.
Arce, surrounded by ministers, waved to the crowd during the national anthem. “Thank you to the Bolivian people,” he said. “Let democracy survive.”
Hours later, Bolivian general Juan José Zuniga, who appeared to be behind the rebellion, was arrested following an investigation by the attorney general. It’s unclear what he was charged with.
However, shortly before his arrest, Zuniga claimed that Arce asked him to attack the palace as a political act. “The president told me: ‘The situation is very bad, very critical. It is necessary to prepare something to enhance my popularity,'” Zuniga told reporters.
Zuniga said he asked Arce if he should “take out the armored vehicles?” Arce responded: “Take them away.”
Wednesday’s rebellion follows months of tensions as two political giants – Arce and his one-time ally, leftist former President Evo Morales – battle for control of the ruling party. Economic hardship and protests intensified.
Still, the apparent attempt to overthrow the sitting president appears to lack any meaningful support, with even Arce’s rivals united to defend democracy and deny the uprising.
The spectacle outraged regional leaders and shocked Bolivians, who are no strangers to political unrest. Morales was ousted from the presidency in 2019 following an earlier political crisis.
As the crisis unfolded on Wednesday, military vehicles flooded into the square. Before entering the government building, Army Commander-in-Chief Zuniga told reporters: “There will definitely be a new cabinet soon; our country, our country cannot continue like this.” Zuniga said that “at present,” He recognized Arce as commander-in-chief.
Zuniga did not explicitly say he was leading a coup, but at the palace he said the army was trying to “restore democracy and free our political prisoners.”
Soon after, Arce confronted Zuniga in a palace corridor, Bolivian television footage showed. “I am your captain and I order you to withdraw your soldiers and I will not allow this act of disobedience,” Arce said.
Surrounded by ministers, he added: “We are here, firmly in Casa Grande, to fight any coup attempt. We need the Bolivian people to organize.”
He added in a video message that he would not “allow another coup attempt to take Bolivian lives.”
Less than an hour later, Arce announced the new chiefs of the army, navy and air force to cheers from supporters and thanked the country’s police and regional allies for their support. Arce said troops who rose up against him “sullied the uniform of the army.”
“I order all those who are mobilized to return to their units,” said newly appointed Army Chief of Staff José Wilson Sánchez. “No one wants the images we see on the streets.”
Soon after, armored vehicles roared out of the square, followed by hundreds of soldiers, and police in riot gear set up a blockade outside the government building.
The incident sparked outrage among other regional leaders, including the Organization of American States, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, the leader of Honduras and the former leader of Bolivia.
Bolivia, a country of 12 million, has seen its economy plunge in recent months, falling from one of the continent’s fastest-growing countries 20 years ago to one of the worst hit by the crisis, amid protests Increasingly intense.
There are also striking divisions at the highest levels of the country’s ruling party. Ahead of 2025 elections, Arce and his onetime ally Morales have been fighting for the future of Bolivia’s splintered Movement for Socialism, known by its Spanish acronym MAS.
After Wednesday’s chaos, local media reports showed Bolivians stocking up on food and other necessities in supermarkets, fearing what would happen next.
But speaking to supporters outside the presidential palace, the country’s Vice President David Choquehuanca vowed: “The Bolivian people will never allow a coup attempt again.”
