Two Bolivian army leaders have been arrested after soldiers and tanks on Wednesday took up position in front of government buildings in what Bolivian President Luis Arce called an attempted coup.
The troops and tanks entered Plaza Murillo, a square where the presidency and the Bolivian Congress are situated, in the afternoon.
One of the tanks tried to break down a metal door of the presidential palace.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Surrounded by soldiers and eight tanks, the now-dismissed army chief, general Juan Jose Zuniga, said that the “armed forces intend to restructure democracy, to make it a true democracy and not one run by the same few people for 30, 40 years.”
Reporters saw soldiers and tanks pulling back from the square shortly afterward.
The uprising lasted about five hours.
Zuniga was captured and forced into a police car as he addressed reporters outside a military barracks later on Wednesday, footage on state television showed.
“General, you are under arrest,” Bolivian Deputy Minister of the Interior Jhonny Aguilera told Zuniga.
A second senior officer, Juan Arnez Salvador, who was head of the Bolivian navy, was also arrested.
Salvador’s arrest was announced by Bolivian Minister of the Interior Eduardo del Castillo, who said that Zuniga and the navy chief are “two military coup leaders who tried to destroy democracy and the institutionality of our country and failed.”
Speaking from a balcony of the government palace, Arce told hundreds of supporters that “no one can take away the democracy we have won.”
Before he was arrested, Zuniga told reporters that the president had told him to stage an uprising to trigger a crackdown that would make him look strong and boost his sagging approval rating.
At a meeting on Sunday, Zuniga had asked Arce: “So we bring out armored vehicles?” the general said.
He said the president answered: “Bring them out.”
Arce’s instructions were to “stage something to raise his popularity,” Zuniga said.
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