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<h1>Bolivian president thanks people after facing down failed coup attempt</h1><p class="gmail-article__subhead"><em>Regional organisations rally behind Bolivian government as troops and armoured vehicles gather in the capital.</em></p><div class="gmail-responsive-image"><img src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/AP24178775725792-1719438488.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80" alt="Armoured vehicle and army troops outside the presidential palace" width="408" height="272" style="margin-right: 25px;"></div>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]<div class="gmail-article-info-block"><div class="gmail-article-b-l"><div class="gmail-article-dates"><div class="gmail-date-simple gmail-css-1yjq2zp"><span class="gmail-screen-reader-text">Published On 26 Jun 2024</span><span aria-hidden="true"> -<font size="1"> </font></span><font size="1"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/26/fears-of-coup-attempt-in-bolivia-as-soldiers-storm-presidential-palace">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/26/fears-of-coup-attempt-in-bolivia-as-soldiers-storm-presidential-palace</a></font></div></div></div><div class="gmail-social-share-buttons"><div class="gmail-update-reading-list"></div></div></div><div class="gmail-update-reading-list"><span class="gmail-update-reading-list__tooltip" role="tooltip"></span></div><a class="gmail-social-share-button" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Share on Facebook" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Faje.io%2Fbkr0jb"></a><a class="gmail-social-share-button" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Share on Twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Bolivian%20president%20thanks%20people%20after%20facing%20down%20failed%20coup%20attempt&source=sharethiscom&related=sharethis&via=AJEnglish&url=https%3A%2F%2Faje.io%2Fbkr0jb"></a><a class="gmail-social-share-button gmail-copylink" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Copy link" href="https://aje.io/bkr0jb"></a><p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“Many thanks to the Bolivian people,” said Arce. “Long live democracy.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<img class="gmail-size-arc-image-770 gmail-wp-image-3005149" src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/AP24178701227350-1719433015.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C434&quality=80" alt="A soldier approaches a journalist gesturing for them to leave" width="408" height="230" style="margin-right: 25px;">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]
<p>Before he entered the building, Zuniga had addressed reporters in the capital.</p>
<p>“Stop destroying, stop impoverishing our country, stop humiliating our army,” he said.</p>
<p>“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”.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“We will not allow the armed forces to violate democracy and intimidate people,” he said.</p><p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>A spokesperson for the White House said that the United States urges
calm and restraint and that the Biden administration is monitoring
developments.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<img class="gmail-size-arc-image-770 gmail-wp-image-3005477" src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/AP24178774660916-1719438551.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C514&quality=80" alt="A woman walks past a group of heavily armed police" width="408" height="272" style="margin-right: 25px;">A woman walks by military police in Plaza Murillo, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024 [Juan Karita/AP Photo]
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
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<p>“We express the strongest condemnation of the attempted coup d’etat
in Bolivia,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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