LA PAZ, Bolivia — Led by a top general, armored vehicles rammed the doors of Bolivia’s government palace Wednesday in what the president called a coup attempt, then quickly retreated as thousands of people poured into the streets to protect democracy.
Within hours, the nation of 12 million people saw a rapidly moving scenario in which the troops seemed to take control of the government of President Luis Arce. He vowed to stand firm and named a new army commander, who immediately ordered the troops to stand down.
Soon, the soldiers pulled back, along with a line of military vehicles, ending the rebellion after just three hours. Residents of the capital city had rushed the square outside the palace, waving Bolivian flags, singing the national anthem, and cheering.
The soldiers’ retreat was followed by the arrest of army chief Gen. Juan José Zúñiga after the attorney general opened an investigation.
Government Minister Eduardo del Castillo said that in addition to Zúñiga, former Navy Vice Adm. Juan Arnez Salvador was taken into custody. “What was this group’s goal? The goal was to overturn the democratically elected authority,” del Castillo told journalists in announcing the arrests.
Late Wednesday, Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo said “Everything is now under control.” Surrounded by the new military chiefs appointed by Arce, Novillo said that Bolivia lived a “failed coup.”
The apparent coup attempt came as the country faces a severe economic crisis. The ruling party, the Movement for Socialism (MAS), has also faced internal divisions between supporters of Arce and former President Evo Morales. The latter’s allies in Congress have consistently thwarted Arce’s attempts to take on more foreign debt, showing the two leaders’ divergent policy paths.
Zúñiga referenced that split during the rebellion, telling reporters the military was tired of the infighting and claiming soldiers sought “to restore democracy.”
A more pressing issue than MAS’ internal divisions, however, is the threat of U.S. military and corporate intervention. Already, the U.S. Embassy has been accused of working behind the scenes to manipulate voters ahead of elections due next year.
Bolivia possesses large natural resource deposits that are of interest to U.S. corporations, particularly lithium, which is needed for electric vehicle batteries, computers, and smartphone components.
After Evo Morales was overthrown in 2019, billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk bragged on Twitter that “we,” presumably meaning the U.S. capitalist class, would overthrow anyone they wanted. “We will coup who we want, deal with it!” he tweeted in July 2020.
Wednesday’s coup attempt began in the early afternoon as the streets of La Paz started filling with soldiers. Arce tweeted that the troop deployment was irregular, and soon he and other political figures warned of a military revolt.
The attempt to depose the sitting president seemed to lack any meaningful support, however, and even Arce’s rivals closed ranks to defend democracy and repudiate the uprising.
In a twist, Zúñiga claimed in comments to journalists before his arrest that Arce himself told the general to storm the palace in a political move. “The president told me: ‘The situation is very screwed up, very critical. It is necessary to prepare something to raise my popularity,’” Zúñiga quoted the Bolivian leader as saying.
Zúñiga said he asked Arce if he should “take out the armored vehicles?” and Arce replied, “Take them out.”
Justice Minister Iván Lima denied Zúñiga’s claims, saying the general was lying and trying to justify his actions for which he said he would face justice. Prosecutors will seek the maximum sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison for Zúñiga, Lima said via the social media platform X, “for having attacked democracy and the Constitution.”
As the crisis unfolded Wednesday, Arce confronted Zúñiga in the palace hallway, as shown on video on Bolivian television. “I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination,” Arce said.
Surrounded by ministers, he added: “Here we are, firm in Casa Grande, to confront any coup attempt. We need the Bolivian people to organize.”
The incident was met with a wave of outrage by other regional leaders, including the Organization of American States, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, the leader of Honduras, and former Bolivian leaders.
Gustavo Flores-Macías, a professor of government and public policy focusing on Latin America at Cornell University, said it’s important that world leaders and organizations keep up their condemnation of the coup attempt as developments unfold.
“If we allow the interruption of the constitutional order to take place in Bolivia, it could serve a demonstration effect,” Flores-Macías said from New York in an interview with The Associated Press. “It could send a signal that if this is OK to happen in Bolivia, it could happen elsewhere.”
Less than an hour after the palace was invaded, Arce announced new heads of the army, navy, and air force amid the roar of supporters, and thanked the country’s police and regional allies for standing by him. Arce said the troops who rose against him were “staining the uniform” of the military.
“I order all that are mobilized to return to their units,” said the newly named army chief José Wilson Sánchez. “No one wants the images we’re seeing in the streets.”
Shortly after, the armored vehicles roared out of the plaza, tailed by hundreds of military fighters as police in riot gear set up blockades outside the government palace.
Following Wednesday’s chaos reports on local media showed Bolivians stocking up on food and other essentials in supermarkets, concerned about what will come next.
But addressing supporters outside the presidential palace, the country’s vice president, David Choquehuanca, vowed: “Never again will the Bolivian people permit coup attempts.”
This article combines reporting from the Associated Press and earlier People’s World coverage.
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