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A6 WORLD NEWS
Friday 28 June 2024
After failed coup attempt, many Bolivians rally behind president,

though some are wary

By PAOLA FLORES and The influx of soldiers sent Bo-
ISABEL DEBRE livians into a frenzy, throng-
Associated Press ing ATMs, queuing outside
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Sup- gas stations and ransack-
porters of Bolivia’s president ing grocery stores. By one
rallied outside his palace on count, Bolivia has had more
Thursday after a failed coup than 190 coup attempts and
attempt a day earlier, giv- revolutions since its 1825 in-
ing some political breath- dependence.
ing room to the embattled The country’s fragmented
leader of this economically opposition rejected the
troubled country as they coup before it was clear it
chanted pro-democracy had failed. Former interim
slogans. President Jeanine Áñez,
The South American na- detained for her role in Mo-
tion of 12 million watched rales’ 2019 ouster, said that
in shock and bewilderment soldiers sought to “destroy
Wednesday as military forc- the constitutional order,” but
es appeared to turn on the appealed to both Arce and
government of President Luis Morales not to run in the 2025
Arce, seizing control of the elections.
capital’s main square with Santa Cruz Gov. Luis Fernan-
armored vehicles, crashing a do Camacho, also detained
tank into the presidential pal- Bolivian police hold the detained Juan Jose Zuniga, former general commander of the Army, in for allegedly orchestrating
ace and unleashing tear gas La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. a coup in 2019, demanded
on protesters. Three hours Associated Press answers from Arce’s govern-
later, the army general who without providing evidence by the end of the business of Morales running again has ment on Thursday.
led the attempted coup was that Arce had ordered the day. Arce named a new rattled Arce, whose popu- “Was it a media spectacle
in custody. general to carry out the army commander, who im- larity has plunged as the put on by the government
On Thursday, riot police coup attempt in a ruse to mediately ordered troops to country’s foreign currency itself, as General Zúñiga
guarded the palace doors boost the president’s pop- retreat. reserves dwindle, its natural says? Was it just some mili-
and Arce who has struggled ularity. That fueled a frenzy “Here we are, firm, in the gas exports plummet and its tary madness? Was it simply
to manage the country’s of speculation about what presidential palace, to con- currency peg to the U.S. dol- another example of lack of
shortages of foreign cur- really happened, and op- front any coup attempt,” lar collapses. control?” he wrote on social
rency and fuel condemned position senators and gov- Arce said after facing The cash crunch has ramped media platform X.
the now-ousted Bolivian ernment critics echoed the down Zúñiga. Hundreds of up pressure on Arce to scrap Zúñiga’s answer came as a
army chief, Gen. Juan José accusations, calling the mu- the president’s supporters food and fuel subsidies that shock, telling reporters that
Zúñiga. tiny a “self-coup” a claim surged into streets surround- have put a strain on state Arce had asked him direct-
Analysts say that the surge of strongly denied by Arce’s ing the palace Wednesday finances, a combustible ly to storm the palace and
public support for Arce, even government. night, singing the national move ahead of elections. bring armored vehicles into
if fleeting, provides him with In La Paz’s main Plaza Murillo, anthem and cheering for Defense Minister Edmundo downtown La Paz.
a much-needed reprieve supporters addressed Arce, Arce. Novillo said Wednesday’s “The president told me: ‘The
from the country’s economic yelling “Lucho, you are not Authorities swiftly arrested turmoil had its roots in a situation is very screwed up,
quagmire and political tur- alone!” as fireworks explod- Zúñiga as his soldiers retreat- private meeting Tuesday very critical. It is necessary to
moil. The president is locked ed overhead. Lucho, a com- ed from central La Paz. in which Arce dismissed Zu- prepare something to raise
in a deepening rivalry with mon nickname for Luis, also The U.S. deputy secretary of ñiga over the army chief’s my popularity,’” Zúñiga al-
the popular former President means “fight” in Spanish. state for management, Rich threats to arrest Morales if he leged the Bolivian leader
Evo Morales, his erstwhile ally Some Bolivians said they be- Verma, condemned Zuni- proceeded to join the 2025 told him.
who has threatened to chal- lieved Gen. Zúñiga’s allega- ga’s actions and speaking in race. Bolivian officials have denied
lenge Arce in 2025 primaries. tions on national TV that the Paraguay on Thursday noted Arce has also denied the le- Zúñiga’s claims, insisting the
“The president’s manage- coup attempt was a hoax. that “democracy remains gitimacy of Morales’ presi- general was lying to justify
ment has been very bad, “They are playing with the fragile in our hemisphere.” dential bid. his actions. Prosecutors said
there are no dollars, there is intelligence of the people, The short-lived mutiny fol- In their meeting, Zuñiga they’d seek the maximum
no petrol,” said La Paz-based because nobody believes lowed months of mounting gave officials no indication sentence of 15 to 20 years in
political analyst Paul Coca. that it was a real coup,” said tensions between Arce and he was preparing to seize prison for Zúñiga on charges
“Yesterday’s military move is 48-year-old lawyer Evaristo ex-President Morales, Boliv- power, Novillo said. of “attacking the constitu-
going to help his image a bit, Mamani. ia’s first Indigenous president. “He admitted that he had tion.”
but it’s no solution.” Lawmakers and former of- Morales has staged a dra- committed some excesses,” Political experts struggling
Some protesters gathered ficials also bolstered the al- matic political comeback he said of Zuñiga. “We said to comprehend the rea-
outside the police station legations. “This has been a since mass protests and a goodbye in the most friendly sons behind Wednesday’s
where the former army gen- setup,” said Carlos Romero, deadly crackdown prompt- way, with hugs. Zuñiga said turmoil.
eral was being detained, a former official in the Mo- ed him to resign and flee in that he would always be at “This is the weirdest coup
shouting that he should go rales government. “Zúñiga 2019 a military-backed oust- the side of the president.” attempt I have ever seen,”
to jail. “It’s a shame what followed the script as he was er that his supporters decry Mere hours later, panic said Kathryn Ledebur, direc-
Zúñiga did,” said 47-year- ordered.” as a coup. gripped the capital of La tor of the Andean Informa-
old Dora Quispe, one of the Soon after the military action Morales has vowed to run Paz. Tailed by armored ve- tion Network, a Bolivia-based
demonstrators. “We are in a was underway, it became against Arce in 2025 elec- hicles and supporters, Zuñiga research group. “Bolivia’s
democracy, not a dictator- clear that any attempted tions despite a constitutional burst into government head- democracy remains very
ship.” takeover had no mean- court ruling that said he was quarters and declared the fragile, and definitely a great
Before his arrest late ingful political support. The ineligible because he had al- armed forces sought “to re- deal more fragile today than
Wednesday, Zúñiga alleged rebellion ended bloodlessly ready served. The possibility store Bolivia’s democracy.” it was yesterday.”q