Bolivian soldiers storm plaza; former general accused of coup attempt

News videos showed former Gen. Juan Jose Zuñiga, who was fired this week as commander of the Bolivian Army, entering the Palacio Quemado, confronting Arce face-to-face and rejecting the president’s order that he withdraw the troops. With soldiers storming the plaza, Zuñiga told reporters the military sought to install a new cabinet and “restore democracy.”

As the chaos unfolded, Arce named new commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force, who ordered all personnel to return to their units. In less than two hours, they had retreated from the government palace.

Zuñiga was arrested as he left a military command center. He told reporters as he was detained that Arce had instructed him to “bring out the tanks.”

Arce is expected to seek reelection next year.

“The president told me that the situation is messed up. This week will be critical,” Zuñiga said. “It is necessary to prepare something that will raise my popularity.”

Prosecutors said they were opening a criminal investigation against Zuñiga for alleged terrorism and engaging in an armed uprising. Zuñiga was dismissed from his post on Tuesday after saying in televised remarks that Evo Morales, Bolivia’s president from 2006 to 2019, could not be allowed to run for president again, Bolivian media reported.

With the plaza cleared of soldiers and armored vehicles, Arce addressed a cheering crowd from a balcony in Casa Grande, an annex to the government palace. Carrying a Bolivian flag, he thanked the Bolivian people, police and the members of the military who remained true to the constitution. He celebrated his government’s reaction in “pushing back this attempted coup.”

“We have remained here in Casa Grande, where you put us,” he told the crowd. “The only ones who can remove us from here are you.”

The crowd chanted their support, using Arce’s nickname: “Lucho is not alone!”

Earlier in the afternoon, heavily armed soldiers had launched gas and pellets at the crowds, injuring at least one person. Even after the police regained control, tensions remained high in the plaza.

The crowd began to divide between groups who back Arce and others who accuse him of a “self-coup.” “Lucho tricked us!” critics shouted. They accused him of staging a show of force in an effort to strengthen his position in a party now divided between him and his former boss, Morales.

Arce served as Morales’s finance minister when the leftist icon was president, but their relationship has recently become tense. Still, as soldiers stormed Plaza Murillo on Wednesday, Morales called for a national mobilization to “defend democracy against the coup d’état.”

Arce, who was elected in 2020, has struggled to respond to an economic crisis, a shortage of dollars and widespread fuel scarcity in the country. Anger has grown over the rising cost of living.

Weeks ago, lawmakers had suspected that the military might attempt a coup, according to multiple members of the country’s national assembly, but they were not sure when or how it might take place.

The military’s brief show of force brought back memories of armed coups of decades past in this Andean nation of 12 million people. While the country has not experienced a coup since 1980, Bolivia has witnessed more than 100 coup attempts since its independence, 42 of which were successful.

“It feels a little bit like watching blurry black-and-white videos in a time machine when you have tanks literally pounding on the presidential palace in a place like La Paz,” said Latin America analyst Brian Winter, editor in chief of Americas Quarterly. The images were particularly upsetting to see in a region with some of the world’s strongest democracies, he added.

But Bolivian analyst Raul Peñaranda said he did not consider Wednesday’s intrusion “a serious attempt at a coup d’état.” It was short-lived, unsuccessful and led by one man supported by only some segments of the military.

“I think this is really going to be a passing issue, a blip in our history,” Peñaranda said.

While it revealed the weakness of Arce’s government and of the country’s institutions, Peñaranda argued, it does not necessarily reflect a major threat to Bolivia’s democracy.

While Arce has been accused of some undemocratic actions, including detaining opposition politicians, he was elected democratically and is expected to hand over power next year. The failed coup attempt could give Arce a “bit of oxygen” but the slight boost in support is unlikely to last, Peñaranda said.

Foreign leaders on both the left and right condemned the coup attempt. The U.S. National Security Council said officials were following events closely and urged calm. The United States has had strained relations with the Bolivian government for years. No U.S. ambassador has been based in La Paz since 2008, when Morales expelled the country’s ambassador.

Schmidt reported from Bogotá, Colombia. John Hudson and Dan Lamothe in Washington and Ana Herrero in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.