Bolivian police arrest head of apparent coup struggle

Bolivian police apparently arrested the head of the coup attempt, L. A. Has been arrested from Rashtrapati Bhavan. Paz was attacked by infantrymen.

A large number of soldiers and armored vehicles had gathered in Murillo Square. The place where the major executive structures are located. An armored car breached the main gate of the presidential palace, allowing foot soldiers inside. After this they all retreated.

The rising army chief, General Juan José Zúñiga, had said he wanted to “restructure democracy” and that since he respected President Luis Arce, the presidency could be turned around.

Once arrested, he was telling journalists a few seconds later that the army had intervened at the request of the President.

General Zuniga was removed from his post on Tuesday after he made inflammatory comments about former Bolivian President Evo Morales during an interview last week.

President Arce condemned the coup conflict and called on people to “mobilize and organize in favor of democracy.”

“We cannot allow coup attempts to once again take the lives of Bolivians,” he said in a televised message to villagers from inside the presidential palace.

His phrases clearly resonated, with pro-democracy protesters taking to the streets in support of the federal government.

In dramatic photographs apparently filmed inside the presidential palace, President Arce is seen apparently confronting General Zuniga, ordering him to tell him I’m sick and asking him to step down.

He also announced he was appointing senior military commanders, confirming reports that General Zuniga had been ousted and openly criticized Mr Morales.

Mr Morales, who also condemned the coup, called for criminal charges to be brought against General Zuniga and his “accomplices”.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office has initiated a prison investigation. Vice-Adm. Juan Arnez Salvador, head of the Bolivian army, has also been arrested.

General Zuniga’s real motivations for launching the coup are non-transparent.

He was fired, after which he announced on TV on Monday that he would arrest Mr. Morales if he later ran for office again, although the former president was barred from doing so. .

Mr Morales was forced from office in 2019 by army chiefs who said he was trying to rig the results of the presidential election, sending him into exile in Mexico.

Talking from Murillo Square. It was then taken over by soldiers, accusing an “elite class” of “taking over the country, those troublemakers who have destroyed the country.”

However, moments before his arrest, the general told journalists that the President had advised him to take out “blindados” (armored vehicles) to shore up his declining reputation. A few seconds later he was put into a ready police van.

Andrea Barrientos – a prominent opposition senator – repeated his claims, suggesting that a financial and judicial situation had prompted Mr Arce to set up a “self-coup”.

“I would say that the government has a lot of questions to answer to the Bolivian people and they need to explain the situation very well,” she said. “We would say we need a thorough investigation into this situation.”

It’s the rising sun that Wednesday’s trip was a short-lived and ill-judged military coup rather than any broader revelation of energy.

However, the coming weeks would be crucial in establishing whether General Zuniga’s military rebellion was merely an isolated incident.

Certainly, the federal government now appears more vulnerable, and others may try to remove Mr. Arce’s leadership – even if through politics rather than the military.

Mr. Morales called on his supporters, particularly in the country’s indigenous coca-growers movement, to take to the streets to end the military coup.

That display of existing power would have helped cement access to the bottom of General Zuniga’s plans, which included releasing “political prisoners”. Former Chief Jeanine Anez,

Despite internal political feuds, both Mr Arce and his predecessor belong to the same political party. Their alliance has left some Bolivians, including General Zuniga, worried that Mr. Morales might seek another term in office.

Problems arose when he attempted to re-enact the charter and seek a fourth term in 2019. Mr. Morales went on to win the vote, but was forced to abdicate and flee the country’s then-violent protests.

Center-right Jeanine Anez was the country’s interim leader between 2019-20, but she was sentenced to ten years in prison over what prosecutors say was a coup that ousted her predecessor, Mr Morales. The outgoing president, Mr Arce, went straight to winning re-election in 2020.

Mr Arce and Mr Morales, former allies, do not have a clear view of much of the recent past, but they were united in condemning the usefulness of troops in promoting political change in Bolivia.

Before Mr. Morales took power in 2005, Bolivia was one of the most politically unstable countries in the Americas. Their surge in energy provided much-needed balance to the Andean people, at least until its ignominious end.

For his part, Mr Arce – who was elected following a period of instability after the 2019 election – may have been pleased with the rate of regional response.

Allies such as leftist governments in Venezuela and Colombia were quick to condemn what was happening and to reach out for a breakthrough of sovereignty. Washington was also called upon to remain calm.

In Paraguay, center-right President Santiago Peña also condemned the coup attempt.

Even those Bolivians who oppose their socialist regime would not want to see a slow return to South America, where armies with terrible human rights data often detain the country’s democratically elected leaders at gunpoint. Throws it out.

However, Janice Vaca Daza – a human rights activist – said she feared that Mr Arce might simply use the coup as an explanation for why he should be angry at his fighters.

“It will legitimize (President) Arce’s government and give him more power to arrest new members of the opposition whom he considers a threat to his rule,” he said.

“For many people who are currently members of the Legislative Assembly, there is a fear that this could lead to either the closure of the Legislative Assembly or the arrest of members who might be suspected of collaborating with the military Is.”