Bolivian President Luis Arce denied Thursday any conspiracy with the former army chief, arrested on charges of attempting a coup on Wednesday by deploying armored vehicles in front of the presidential palace in La Paz. The general says he acted on orders from the president.
The latter would have asked him to ‘stage something to increase his popularity’, in a context of serious economic crisis, indicated General Juan José Zúñiga on Wednesday.
‘How could one order or plan a self-coup? […] He acted on his own initiative, Mr Arce replied on Thursday. ‘Unfortunately for him and this has been seen, I am not a politician who will gain his popularity with the blood of the people.’
As of Wednesday, Luis Arce swore in a new command of the armed forces. In addition to the general and the head of the navy, Juan Arnez Salvador, 15 people were arrested. The two men are being prosecuted for ‘armed uprising and terrorism’. They face up to 20 years in prison.
Unclear motives
The motivations of army chief Juan José Zúñiga, who had stationed men and armoured vehicles in Murillo Square, opposite the parliament and the presidential palace, remain unclear.
Before his arrest by the police, the general had said he wanted to ‘restructure democracy, make it a real democracy […] Not that of a few, not that of a few masters who have ruled the country for 30 or 40 years.
The government minister (interior), Eduardo Del Castillo, castigated ‘two military putschists who wanted to destroy democracy’. On Thursday, he presented to the media 15 other people arrested, handcuffed, surrounded by police. ‘This operation had been planned since May,’ he said, adding that three other suspects were being sought.
Fourteen civilians who opposed the coup were injured by birdshot, according to the authorities. Some had to be hospitalized and “operated on,” Luis Arce said.
For Gustavo Flores-Macias, of Cornell University in the United States, ‘the fact that the coup failed does not mean that the situation in Bolivia is resolved. On the contrary, it was a symptom of a very significant discontent which exists in large sectors.
/ATS
