Bolivian soldiers gathered in front of the presidential palace on Wednesday, as the country’s President, Luis Arce, said on the X platformin what appeared to be a general’s attempt to seize the government building.
A video broadcast on Bolivian television showed the country’s main political square occupied by security forces in riot gear, a camouflaged tank ramming a palace gate and soldiers attempting to enter the palace.
On Wednesday afternoon, standing in front of the palace and surrounded by members of the armed forces, General Juan José Zúñiga affirmed that the Bolivian army, air force and navy were “mobilized”.
“The police are also with us,” he said in La Paz, the country’s administrative capital.
He then briefly entered the palace, according to local reporters.
A key minister in Mr. Arce’s government, María Nela Prada, speaking in a video taken from a building overlooking the occupied square, denounced the move as an “attempted coup.”
The ministers were holding a meeting inside when the military arrived. On X, Mr. Arce, a left-winger and hand-picked successor to former President Evo Morales, denounced the effort.
“Democracy must be respected,” he said.
Mr. Morales claimed that a “coup d’état” “Right now, armed forces personnel and tanks are deployed in Murillo Square,” he said on social media. “Let us call on the social movements of the countryside and the city to defend democracy.”
Local media reported that Mr Zuñiga was dismissed from his post this week, in what some in the country believe was linked to remarks he made about Mr Morales.
The move was immediately criticized by some leaders in the region, including Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “Coups have never worked,” he added. he told reporters Wednesday.
