Police arrest army top brass after coup attempt in Bolivia

NEWS WIRES

27 June 2024 at 5:14 am·1-min read

Police have arrested two army leaders in Bolivia – army chief General Juan Jose Zuniga and navy chief Juan Arnez Salvador – after a coup attempt Wednesday during which tanks tried to break into the presidential palace. However, Zuniga said President Luis Arce asked him to stage an uprising in order to trigger a crackdown that would help boost his image.

Two Bolivian army leaders were arrested Wednesday after soldiers and tanks took up position in front of government buildings in what President Luis Arce called an attempted coup.

The troops and tanks entered Plaza Murillo, a historic square where the presidency and Congress are situated, in the afternoon, prompting global condemnation of an attack on democracy.

One of the tanks tried to break down a metal door of the presidential palace.

Surrounded by soldiers and eight tanks, the now-dismissed army chief General Juan Jose Zuniga said 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."

AFP reporters saw soldiers and tanks pulling back from the square shortly after. 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.

He returned after Arce won the presidency in October 2020.

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