Military troops in armored vehicles are seen in the surroundings of the Plaza de Armas in La Paz on 26 June 2024. (AIZAR RALDES / AFP)
- Soldiers and tanks entered Plaza Murillo, a historic square where the Presidency and Congress are situated on Wednesday.
- One of the tanks tried to break down a metal door of the presidential palace.
- Army chief General Juan Jose Zuniga briefly entered the presidential palace before leaving on foot.
President Luis Arce on Wednesday urged Bolivians to mobilise against a “coup d’etat” after soldiers tried to force their way into government headquarters in the center of the capital La Paz.
“We need the Bolivian people to organise and mobilise against the coup d’etat in favor of democracy,” Arce said in a televised message to the country alongside his ministers inside the presidential palace.
“We cannot allow coup attempts to take Bolivian lives once again,” he added.
AFP reporters saw soldiers and tanks entering Plaza Murillo, a historic square where the Presidency and Congress are situated. One of the tanks tried to break down a metal door of the presidential palace.
Bolivian television reported that army chief General Juan Jose Zuniga briefly entered the presidential palace before leaving on foot.
“We denounce irregular mobilisations by some units of the Bolivian Army,” Arce wrote on the X social network. “Democracy must be respected.”
Former president Evo Morales wrote on X that “a coup d’Etat is brewing.”
“We call for a national mobilisation to defend democracy,” he said, adding the alleged coup was being planned by Zuniga.
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Rumors have been circulating since Tuesday that Zuniga was on the verge of being dismissed.
The military official appeared on television on Monday and said he would arrest Morales – Bolivia’s first Indigenous president — if he insisted on running for office again in 2025 despite being disqualified from doing so.
Morales was extremely popular until he tried to bypass the constitution and seek a fourth term in office in 2019.
The leftist and former coca union leader won that vote but was forced to resign amid deadly protests over alleged election fraud, and fled the country.
He returned after his ally-turned-foe Luis Arce won the presidency in October 2020.Supporters of Morales in January set up days of road blockades to protest his disqualification.The Organisation of American States (OAS) also condemned the troop movements.
“The international community, the general secretariat of the OAS will not tolerate any form of breach of the legitimate constitutional order in Bolivia or anywhere else,” said secretary general Luis Almagro.
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