Bolivia’s president thanks people after repelling a failed coup attempt | Military News

Amid international outrage, Bolivia’s apparent coup attempt died down and President Luis Arce reaffirmed his authority over the country’s military.

Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, soldiers led by Army General Juan Jose Zuniga stormed the presidential palace and took positions in the square in front of it. Press reports indicated that a tank had slammed the doors of the palace.

But within hours, Zuniga was urging the troops to withdraw after leaders around the world called the army’s actions illegal.

President Arce hailed Bolivia’s withdrawal as a victory for democracy in Bolivia and subsequently addressed the country’s citizens, some of whom took to the streets to protest against the alleged coup attempt.

“A big thank you to the Bolivian people,” Arce said. “Long live democracy.”

Dramatic footage broadcast on Bolivian television on Wednesday showed Arce standing face to face with Zuniga and a group of soldiers in a palace hallway. “I am your captain and I order you to withdraw your soldiers and I will not allow this insubordination,” Arce said.

Reuters news agency reported that Zuniga was eventually arrested.

Why did the alleged coup d’état occur?

Since taking office in 2020, President Arce has led a government in difficulty, fending off pressure from both the left and the right.

Under his leadership, right-wing forces in provinces such as Santa Cruz have carried out deadly attacks against measures they believe are aimed at removing them from power. Just last year, prominent opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho was arrested for his alleged involvement in a 2019 political arrest.

Meanwhile, on the left, President Arce faces resistance from his former political mentor, former President Evo Morales, who has declared his intention to replace Arce in the 2025 presidential race.

Nationwide fuel shortages and a financial crisis that ruptured foreign exchange reserves contributed to the political turmoil.

“The president of the country has a bit of a problem in the sense that he has a low level of support. The last one in March had 38%. The economy is not doing well at all. He is also engaged in a protracted battle with Evo Morales, the country’s former president,” explained Al Jazeera correspondent John Holman. “So this is a difficult time for President Luis Arce.”

Zuniga was Arce’s chosen leader of the Bolivian army. However, when entering the presidential palace on Wednesday, Zuniga cited the bad mood in the country as his motivation.

“The three chiefs of the armed forces came to express our dismay. There will be a new cabinet of ministers. Things will definitely change, but our country cannot continue like this,” Zuniga told a local TV station.

“Stop destroying, stop impoverishing our country, stop humiliating our army.”

The general added that “for now” he will still recognize Arce as commander-in-chief. However, he explained that his goal was to “restore democracy” and “release political prisoners.”

Local media reports indicated that Arce had earlier this week stripped Zuniga of his position atop the country’s military, stoking tensions between the two leaders.

Domestic condemnation

But when armed soldiers and armored vehicles filled Plaza Murillo in the center of the capital La Paz, the reaction was swift.

The country’s largest union has called an indefinite strike in defense of Arce’s government. Videos circulating on social media appear to show crowds chasing away pro-coup forces.

Former President Morales also condemned the military’s actions, calling for criminal proceedings against Zuniga and all those who assisted him.

“We will not allow the armed forces to violate democracy and intimidate people,” he said.

Even the right-wing leader who replaced Morales, former president Jeanine Anez, rejected the army’s advances.

“Total rejection of the military mobilization in Plaza Murillo aimed at destroying the constitutional order,” she added. he wrote on social media platform X, adding that Arce “must leave the country by vote in 2025.”

From the presidential palace, Arce broadcast a video showing a united front, standing alongside all his ministers. He vowed to “oppose any attempts that threaten our democracy.”

“According to the citizens of Bolivia and the entire international community, our country is today facing an attempted coup,” Arce said in the video.

“Today, the people of Bolivia have been called out. We need the Bolivian people to organize and mobilize against the coup for democracy. We cannot allow another coup attempt to take the lives of Bolivians.”

Denunciamos movilizaciones irregulares de algunas unidades del Ejército Boliviano. La Democracia debe respetarse.

— Luis Alberto Arce Catacora (Lucho Arce) (@LuchoXBolivia) June 26, 2024

History of coups

Wednesday’s scenes alarmed the Andean nation, where former President Morales has long maintained he was removed from office in a 2019 coup after seeking a fourth term.

Bolivia has had a long history of political unrest since it gained independence in 1825. Kathryn Ledebur of the Andean Information Network stated that of all South American nations, Bolivia is considered the one that has experienced the greatest number of coups.

“But it enjoyed a very long period of democracy until the coup in 2019,” she explained in an interview with Al Jazeera. “I think it’s very important to remember that Bolivia had an illegitimate government with the support of the military and a coup in 2019.”

In her opinion, this has aroused public skepticism towards the armed forces, which was reflected on the streets of La Paz on Wednesday. “The military has a bad reputation,” Ledebur said.

While it acknowledged that some military officers had faced criminal charges, the institution itself “suffered no significant legal consequences or any punishment or restructuring following this highly anti-democratic activity in 2019 and 2020.”

But Wednesday’s actions send a strong message about the ongoing threat the military may pose, Ledebur added. “This is a very clear sign that the army is not firmly rooted in democracy, like the rest of the armed forces.”

Photos from the Associated Press show soldiers clearing journalists near the presidential palace during the apparent coup.

Ultimately, President Arce replaced General Zuniga with Jose Wilson Sanchez, who ordered all mobilized soldiers to return to their barracks.

“No one wants the images we see on the streets,” Wilson Sanchez said. The prosecutor’s office announced that it was launching an investigation into the people behind the failed attack on the government.

International appeals for peace

As images of the alleged coup began circulating around the world, world leaders from countries including Brazil, Mexico and Colombia expressed concern and condemned what they saw as an attack on democracy.

“We express the strongest condemnation of the attempted coup in Bolivia,” said Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a popular leftist leader.

Meanwhile, Honduran President Xiomara Castro has called the mobilization a “criminal coup.” Gabriel Boric, president of neighboring Chile, issued his own statement: “We cannot tolerate any violation of the legitimate constitutional order in Bolivia or anywhere else.”

But condemnation reached far beyond Latin America. A White House spokesman said the United States was “calling for calm and restraint.” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said his organization “expresses its solidarity with the government and people of Bolivia.”

The Organization of American States (OAS) – an international group made up of 32 member states – also shared an appeal to the military.

“We condemned the events in Bolivia. The army must submit to the legally elected civilian authority,” OAS leader Luis Almagro said as the confusion grew.

Al Jazeera correspondent Holman warned that the outpouring of support does not mean the end of President Arce’s troubles.

After General Zuniga’s arrest, Holman explained that a military commander had made unverified allegations that this apparent coup had been orchestrated by Arce himself to boost his dismal approval ratings.

“For now, some kind of stability is returning,” Holman said. “Right now, in a country that is deeply divided and polarized, the situation is really difficult and flammable. The fact that whatever happened this afternoon is over will not erase the explosive nature of the country.”