Yesterday afternoon, around 2:30 p.m., a group of soldiers entered the area around Plaza Murillo. A tank even knocked down the doors of the Quemado Palace in the city of La Paz. From it, the General Commander of the Army, Juan José Zúñiga, descended. In the midst of a tumult and while troops mobilized by the coup plotters were taking positions, General Zúñiga entered the government building and was face to face with President Luis Arce. From the first moment, the government did not hesitate to describe the situation as an attempted coup d'état.
Tension increased when a group of heavily armed soldiers surrounding Murillo Square fired tear gas at protesters arriving to support the legitimate government.
When the military coup plotters occupied Murillo Square in front of the Quemado Palace, their vice president David Choquehuanca was next to Luis Arce, as reported by Página|12 in today's edition.
Different social sectors, unions and even opposition leaders in the country expressed their support for Arce's legitimate government. The Bolivian Workers' Central (COB) had declared an indefinite strike calling for the "transfer of all social and union organizations to the city of La Paz to defend the constitutional order."
From the presidential palace Arce called on Bolivians to mobilize "against the coup d'état" and swore in the new commander of the Army, José Sánchez, of the Air Force, Gerardo Zabala, and of the Navy, Wilson Guardia.
Faced with these new circumstances, the troops under the command of the dismissed General Commander of the Army withdrew from the square after several hours of mobilization.
After his withdrawal, the president went out to a balcony to address hundreds of followers: "No one can take away the democracy that we have won (...). "We are sure: we are going to continue and we are going to continue working."
Former president Evo Morales, a former ally and now political rival of Arce, also called for mobilization in the face of the military uprising.
According to the newspaper Tiempo Argentino, after a hectic day, the dismissed General Commander of the Army, General Juan José Zúñiga, was arrested outside a military barracks in La Paz and taken to a police vehicle on charges of terrorism and uprising. armed, according to the prosecution. Hours later, the Minister of Government (Interior), Eduardo del Castillo, reported the arrest of the head of the Bolivian Navy (Navy), Vice Admiral Juan Arnez Salvador, as the other person responsible for the failed coup attempt.
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