By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (Worthy News) – Army troops led by a general stormed the presidential palace in Bolivia in an apparent coup attempt after President Luis Arce warned Wednesday that an “irregular” deployment of troops was taking place in the capital, Worthy News established.
Witnesses said the troops entered shortly after armored vehicles crashed into the building.
Video on Bolivian television showed Arce confronting the general commander of the Army, Juan José Zúñiga, in the palace hallway. “I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination,” Arce said.
As the troop movements were underway, Arce called for “democracy to be respected.”
His appeal on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, came as Bolivian television showed two tanks and several military in front of the government palace.
Former Bolivian president Evo Morales, also in a message on X, denounced the military movement in the Murillo square outside the palace, calling it a coup “in the making.”
MILITARY CABINET?
Their appeals did little to calm down the army. “The three chiefs of the armed forces have come to express our dismay. There will be a new cabinet of ministers, surely things will change, but our country cannot continue like this any longer,” General Juan José Zúñiga told a local television.
Yet Morales, who has publicly split with Arce although both belong to the same socialist movement, announced a national mobilization of his supporters to back the democracy of the South American nation.
It was also closely watched by Christians who have in the past expressed concerns about “repressive practices against government critics and Christian leaders” under the previous president, Worthy News established.
The tensions in landlocked Bolivia, South America’s highest and most isolated country, were expected to have regional and international implications.
The nation of 12 million people has the second-largest reserves of natural gas in South America, but Indigenous groups say the country should not relinquish control of the reserves.
Bolivia is also one of the world’s largest producers of coca, the raw material for cocaine. A crop-eradication program has angered Bolivia’s poorest farmers, for whom coca is often the only source of income.
The coup is the biggest challenge for Luis Arce since he won the October 2020 presidential election, returning the Mas socialist party to power after a 12-month interval.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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