Bolivian authorities arrested General Juan Jose Zuniga on Wednesday afternoon, a Reuters witness reported, hours after soldiers stormed the presidential palace in an attempted military coup.
Condemnation from Bolivian government and international leaders
Armed forces withdrew from the presidential palace in La Paz and arrested a general on Wednesday evening after Bolivian President Luis Arce denounced an attempted “coup” against the government and called for international support.
Earlier in the day, military units led by General Juan Jose Zuniga, who was recently removed from his military command, gathered in the central Plaza Murillo square, which is home to the presidential palace and Congress. A Reuters witness saw an armored vehicle ramming into the presidential palace’s door and soldiers rushing inside.
Speaking from the presidential palace, with armed troops outside, Arce said, “Today the country is facing an attempted coup. Today the country is once again facing interests that seek to end democracy in Bolivia.”
“The people of Bolivia are called today. We need the people of Bolivia to organize and mobilize against the coup in favor of democracy.”
A few hours later, a Reuters witness saw soldiers withdraw from the square and police take control of the square. Bolivian authorities arrested Zuniga and took him away, although his destination was unclear.
Inside the presidential palace, Arce swore in José Wilson Sánchez as military commander, Zúñiga’s former role. He called for calm and order to be restored.
“I order that all personnel deployed on the streets return to their units,” Sanchez said. “We pray that the blood of our soldiers will not be shed.”
The United States said it was monitoring the situation closely and urged calm and restraint.
Tensions are rising in Bolivia ahead of general elections due in 2025, with leftist former President Evo Morales planning to run against his former ally Arce, opening a major rift in the ruling Socialist Party and causing widespread political uncertainty.
Many do not want a return of Morales, who ruled from 2006-2019, when he was ousted amid widespread protests and replaced by an interim conservative government. Arce then won elections in 2020.
Zuniga had recently said that Morales should not return as president and threatened to stop him if he attempted to do so, leading Arce to remove Zuniga from his position.
Before the attack on the presidential palace, Zuniga addressed reporters at the square and cited growing anger in the landlocked country, which is struggling with an economic recession caused by a depletion of central bank reserves and a drop in gas exports that has put pressure on the boliviano currency.
“The three heads of the armed forces have come to express our disappointment,” Zuniga told a local TV station. He demanded a new cabinet of ministers.
“Stop destroying our country, stop impoverishing it, stop humiliating our military,” he said alongside soldiers in full uniform, stressing that the actions being taken have the support of the public.
‘Strong condemnation’
Morales, head of the ruling MAS socialist party, said his supporters would mobilize in support of democracy.
“We will not allow the armed forces to violate democracy and intimidate the people,” Morales said.
Bolivia’s public prosecutor’s office said it would launch a criminal investigation against Zuniga and others involved in the coup attempt.
Arce and Bolivia’s cause for democracy also continue to receive public support from regional leaders and others.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Christmas Day: “We strongly condemn the coup attempt in Bolivia. We have full support for President Luis Alberto Arce Catacora.”
Even conservative political opponents of the government in Bolivia condemned the military action, including former President Jeanine Anez, who was imprisoned in 2022 amid political turmoil.
“I totally reject the mobilization of the military in an attempt to destroy the constitutional order in Plaza Murillo,” she wrote on X. “MAS, along with Arce and Evo, must be voted out in 2025. We Bolivians will defend democracy.”
It’s unclear where Zuniga is being taken.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
