2024-07-05 09:12:22
Military troops and tanks were deployed on Wednesday in front of the Bolivian government headquarters in La Paz and tried to knock down a door of the presidential palace, AFP journalists confirmed.
Tanks and troops occupied Plaza Murillo, in the centre of the Bolivian capital, where the presidential headquarters are located. A tank tried to knock down a metal door of the presidential palace, which was later entered by General Juan José Zúñiga, commander of the Army.
According to Bolivian television, the officer entered the building for a few moments before walking out.
Shortly afterwards, President Luis Arce called on Bolivians to mobilise “against the coup d’état.”
“The Bolivian people are called today, we need the Bolivian people to organize and mobilize against the coup d’état, in favor of democracy,” said Arce in a message to the country together with his ministers, from the presidential palace.
“Democracy must be respected,” Arce had previously written on his social network X.
“A coup d’état is being planned. At this moment, personnel from the Armed Forces and tanks are being deployed in Plaza Murillo,” denounced former President Evo Morales.
“We call for a National Mobilization to defend Democracy against the coup d’état that is being planned under the leadership of General Zúñiga,” he added.
– «Breach of order» –
Rumours have been circulating since Tuesday about the possible dismissal of the head of the Army, who has been in office since November 2022 and who is strongly opposed to Morales returning to power next year.
In an interview with a television channel on Monday, the army chief said he would arrest Morales if he insists on running for president in the 2025 elections, despite having been disqualified by the electoral court.
“Legally, he is disqualified; that man cannot be president of this country again,” Zúñiga said.
Bolivia’s ruling party, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), is deeply divided between President Luis Arce and his former ally and bitter adversary, ex-President Evo Morales.
Protected by constitutional reforms that he himself promoted, Morales held the presidency between 2006 and 2019, when he was forced to resign after being accused of electoral fraud in order to obtain a fourth term.
In late December 2023, the Constitutional Court disqualified Morales as a presidential candidate for the 2025 contest, arguing that indefinite reelection is not a “human right,” as it had stated in another ruling in 2017.
But Morales is seeking the presidential nomination this year on behalf of the MAS, while President Arce, in power since 2020, has not commented on whether he will seek re-election.
Following the tense situation in La Paz, the Organization of American States (OAS) said it “will not tolerate any form of breach of the constitutional order” in Bolivia.
“We express our solidarity with President Luis Arce Catacora. The international community and the OAS General Secretariat will not tolerate any form of violation of the legitimate constitutional order in Bolivia or anywhere else,” said head of the organization, Luis Almagro, in Asunción, where the organization’s general assembly is being held until Friday.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro immediately denounced a “coup d’état.” “President Lucho Arce, call on the people, only the people can save the people. Alert Bolivia!” he said.
For her part, Honduran President Xiomara Castro, in her capacity as acting president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), called on the group’s member countries to “condemn the fascism that today threatens democracy in Bolivia and demand full respect for civil power and the Constitution.”
© Agence France-Presse
