Bolivia Coup Fails as Top General Arrested

What appeared to be a coup attempt by soldiers in Bolivia failed on Wednesday. A top general leading armed forces allied to him tried to storm the presidential palace in La Paz, with eyewitness video showing an armored vehicle ram palace doors and soldiers rush in. But they quickly pulled back in the evening and the general, Juan Jose Zuniga, was arrested hours later on live TV, taken away and later replaced.

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A Reuters witness saw soldiers withdraw from the central Plaza Murillo Square, home to the presidential palace and Congress. People continued to gather, heeding an earlier call from President Luis Arce to resist the coup attempt.

[foreign language 00:00:45].

This is a historic afternoon, not just because the people have retaken Plaza Murillo, but because of a failed coup attempt. I believe the Bolivian people should be at ease. All Bolivians are uniting.

Arce himself later appeared from a balcony and thanked the public.

[foreign language 00:01:04].

It fills us with bravery, courage to keep resisting. To keep on resisting any coup attempt because Bolivia deserves its democracy, which has been won in the streets and with blood, brothers and sisters.

The president replaced General Zuniga by swearing in Jose Wilson Sanchez as the new military commander and called for calm and order to be restored. Tension is building in Bolivia ahead of general elections next year. Zuniga has recently hit out at leftist ex-President Evo Morales, saying he should not be allowed to return and threatening to block him if he does. Morales is planning a return to power by running against Arce, his one-time socialist ally.

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Zuniga had also spoken to reporters in the square, saying that anger was growing in the landlocked country. Bolivia has been battling an economic slump with depleted central bank reserves, as well as pressure on the Boliviano currency as exports of gas dry up. The public prosecutor’s office said it would launch a criminal investigation against Zuniga and others involved in the attempted coup.