[News] Bolivian president thanks people after facing down failed coup attempt

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Bolivian president thanks people after facing down failed coup attempt

*Regional organisations rally behind Bolivian government as troops and
armoured vehicles gather in the capital.*
[image: Armoured vehicle and army troops outside the presidential palace]
An armoured vehicle and military police form outside the government palace
at Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, on Wednesday, June 26, 2024 [Juan
Karita/AP Photo]
Published On 26 Jun 2024 -
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/26/fears-of-coup-attempt-in-bolivia-as-soldiers-storm-presidential-palace
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Bolivian President Luis Arce has offered his thanks to the people of the
country after facing down a coup attempt that drew international
condemnation and saw soldiers smash through the doors of the presidential
palace.

Troops led by army general commander Juan Jose Zuniga began to withdraw
from the area around the presidential palace, after Arce called for the
country to defend democracy and fired Zuniga along with the heads of the
navy and air force. Leaders from around the world blasted the army’s
actions as illegal.

“Many thanks to the Bolivian people,” said Arce. “Long live democracy.”

Dramatic footage on Bolivian television on Wednesday showed Arce facing
down Zuniga in the palace hallway. “I am your captain, and I order you to
withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination,” Arce
said.

Newly appointed army chief Jose Wilson Sanchez ordered all mobilised troops
to return to their barracks, stating that “no one wants the images we’re
seeing in the streets”. The public prosecutor’s office said it open a
criminal investigation into those behind the failed attempt against the
government.
[image: A soldier approaches a journalist gesturing for them to leave]A
soldier gestures for journalists to leave Plaza Murillo as soldiers gather
near the presidential palace in La Paz, Bolivia, on Wednesday, June 26,
2024 [Juan Karita/AP Photo]

Before he entered the building, Zuniga had addressed reporters in the
capital.

“Stop destroying, stop impoverishing our country, stop humiliating our
army,” he said.

“The three chiefs of the armed forces have come to express our dismay.
There will be a new cabinet of ministers, surely things will change, but
our country cannot continue like this any longer,” Zuniga told a local TV
station. The general noted that he recognised Arce as the
commander-in-chief “for now” but is trying to “restore democracy”.

Former President Evo Morales denounced the movement of the military in the
Murillo square outside the palace, calling for criminal prosecution against
Zuniga and anyone who helped him.

“We will not allow the armed forces to violate democracy and intimidate
people,” he said.

The country’s largest labour union also announced an indefinite strike in
defence of the government. Videos circulating on social media appear to
show crowds of people chasing away pro-coup forces from a square in the
capital of La Paz.

Latin American leaders and organisations also expressed alarm over the
effort on Wednesday, with officials from countries such as Brazil, Mexico,
Cuba, Chile, Peru, Honduras, Paraguay and Colombia denouncing the army’s
moves as an attack on democracy.

A spokesperson for the White House said that the United States urges calm
and restraint and that the Biden administration is monitoring developments.

“We condemned the events in Bolivia. The army must submit itself to the
legitimately elected civil power,” Luis Almagro, leader of the Organization
of American States (OAS) said following news reports that a tank had
slammed into the doors of the national palace, clearing a path for soldiers
to enter.
[image: A woman walks past a group of heavily armed police]A woman walks by
military police in Plaza Murillo, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26,
2024 [Juan Karita/AP Photo]

The scenes have brought alarm to the Andean nation, where former left-wing
President  Morales, from the same party as Arce, was removed from office in
events many described as a coup in 2019.

“I think it’s very important to remember that Bolivia had an illegal
government with the support of the military and a coup in 2019,” Kathryn
Ledebur of the Andean Information Network told Al Jazeera.

“And so we have had a return to democracy, but there continues to be
impunity, although there are charges against some military officers, and
some political figures are in prison. But we have a structural problem in
the armed forces.”

Photos from The Associated Press show soldiers clearing away journalists
near the presidential palace in the capital of La Paz. Armoured vehicles
and heavily armed soldiers were present.

“We express the strongest condemnation of the attempted coup d’etat in
Bolivia,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro called the mobilisation a “criminal coup
d’etat”, and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the
group of European states condemns any attempts to overthrow the
democratically elected government.
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