Bolivian President Luis Arce announced three new heads of the South American country’s Armed Forces following an attempted coup in which military units used armored vehicles to ram into the doors of Bolivia’s government palace, before the Army General allegedly responsible was arrested.
The news of the new heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force came amid the roar of supporters.
“The country is facing an attempted coup d’état. Here we are, firm in Casa Grande, to confront any coup attempt. We need the Bolivian people to organize,” Arce said in a video message.
Video footage showed troops setting up blockades outside the government palace. Arce said the troops who rose against him were “staining the uniform” of the military. “I order all that are mobilized to return to their units,” said the newly appointed Army Chief José Wilson Sánchez. “No one wants the images we’re seeing in the streets.”
Soon after, troops began pulling back from the presidential palace.
Arce confronted Army Gen. Juan José Zúñiga, who was recently stripped of his military command and who appeared to be leading the rebellion, in the palace hallway, as shown in a video on Bolivian television. Zúñiga was later arrested after the Attorney General opened an investigation against him. It wasn’t immediately clear what the charges were against him.
Zuniga said Arce asked him to storm the palace in a political move.
“The President told me: ‘The situation is very screwed up, very critical. It is necessary to prepare something to raise my popularity’,” Zúñiga told reporters. (Sky News)
