Armoured vehicles rammed into the doors of the presidential palace in Bolivia’s capital Wednesday as a top government official warned of a coup attempt and President Luis Arce said an “irregular” deployment of troops was taking place in La Paz.
“The three chiefs of the armed forces have come to express our dismay [with the government],” General Juan Jose Zuniga told a local TV station. “There will be a new cabinet of ministers. Surely, things will change, but our country cannot continue like this any longer.”
Zuniga addressed reporters in the square prior to the assault on the national palace.
“Stop destroying, stop impoverishing our country, stop humiliating our army,” he said, dressed in full uniform and flanked by soldiers. He insisted the action was supported by the public.
Video on Bolivian television showed Arce confronting Zuniga in the palace hallway.
“I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination,” Arce says in the video.
Arce called for “democracy to be respected” in a message on his X account.
Bolivia, a country of 12 million people, has seen intensifying protests in recent months over the economy’s precipitous decline from one of the continent’s fastest-growing two decades ago to one of its most crisis-stricken.
The country also has seen a high-profile rift at the uppermost levels of the governing party. Arce and his one-time ally, leftist icon and former president Evo Morales, have been battling for the future of Bolivia’s splintering Movement for Socialism ahead of elections in 2025.
Morales announced a national mobilization of his supporters in the wake of the apparent coup attempt.
“We will not allow the armed forces to violate democracy and intimidate people,” he said.
In a video posted to Facebook, government official María Nela Prada, who holds the title of minister of the presidency, also denounced the “attempted coup d’état” and accused those carrying it out of operating “in a totally irregular manner.”
“The people are alert, the Bolivian people are alert, the organizations are also alert to defend our democracy, which is the most valuable thing we have,” she said.