17 people arrested in attempted coup in Bolivia, government says – Chicago Tribune

LA PAZ, Bolivia – The Bolivian government announced Thursday that a total of 17 people had been arrested for their suspected involvement in the coup attempt that rocked the economically struggling country the previous day.

The South American country of 12 million people watched in shock and disbelief on Wednesday as the armed forces turned on the government of President Luis Arce, taking over the capital’s main square with tanks, driving a tank into the presidential palace and firing tear gas at protesters. In the hours that followed, the army general who led the coup attempt, Juan José Zúñiga, and an alleged co-conspirator, former Navy Vice Admiral Juan Arnez Salvador, were arrested and remain in custody.

Eduardo del Castillo, a senior cabinet member, did not provide details about the other 15 people arrested. He said one of them was a civilian named Aníbal Aguilar Gómez, whom he described as the “mastermind” of the foiled coup.

Del Castillo said the government was looking for more suspects and that the alleged conspirators had begun planning in May.

Supporters of the Bolivian president gathered in front of his palace on Thursday and gave the embattled leader some political space with their pro-democracy slogans.

Riot police guarded the palace doors and Arce – who is struggling with the country’s shortage of foreign currency and fuel – condemned Zúñiga.

Analysts say the surge in public support for Arce, even if short-lived, gives him a much-needed respite from the country’s economic quagmire and political turmoil. The president is embroiled in a deepening rivalry with popular former President Evo Morales, his former ally who has threatened to challenge Arce in the 2025 primaries.

“The president has managed his economy very poorly, there is no money, no fuel,” said La Paz-based political analyst Paul Coca. “Yesterday’s military operation will help his image a little, but it is not a solution.”

Some protesters gathered outside the police station where the former army general was being held, shouting that he should go to prison. “It’s a disgrace what Zúñiga did,” said 47-year-old Dora Quispe, one of the protesters. “We live in a democracy, not a dictatorship.”

Before his arrest late Wednesday, Zúñiga claimed that Arce had ordered the general to attempt a coup as part of a ruse to boost the president’s popularity, without being able to provide any evidence. This sparked a flood of speculation about what really happened. Opposition senators and government critics repeated the accusations, calling the mutiny a “self-coup” – a claim that Arce’s government has firmly rejected.

In La Paz’s Plaza Murillo, supporters turned to Arce and shouted “Lucho, you are not alone!” as fireworks exploded above them. Lucho, a common nickname for Luis, also means “fight” in Spanish.

Some Bolivians said they believed General Zúñiga’s claims on national television that the coup attempt was a hoax.

“They are playing with the intelligence of the people because no one believes it was a real coup,” said 48-year-old lawyer Evaristo Mamani.

MPs and former officials also backed up the allegations. “It was a trap,” said Carlos Romero, a former official in the Morales government. “Zúñiga followed the script exactly as he was ordered to.”

Soon after the military action began, it became clear that there was no significant political support for any attempted takeover. The uprising ended bloodlessly at the end of the working day. Arce appointed a new army commander, who immediately ordered the troops to retreat.

“We stand firm in the presidential palace to oppose any coup attempt,” Arce said after defying Zúñiga. Hundreds of the president’s supporters poured into the streets around the palace on Wednesday evening, singing the national anthem and cheering Arce.

The authorities immediately arrested Zúñiga as his soldiers withdrew from the center of La Paz.

US Assistant Secretary of State for Management Rich Verma condemned Zuniga’s actions, noting in a speech in Paraguay on Thursday that “democracy in our hemisphere remains fragile.”

The short-lived mutiny followed months of growing tensions between Arce and former President Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president. Morales has made a dramatic political comeback since mass protests and a deadly crackdown forced him to resign and flee in 2019 – a military-backed overthrow that his supporters condemn as a coup.

Morales has said he will run against Arce in the 2025 elections, despite a constitutional court ruling that he was ineligible because he was already in office. The possibility of Morales running again has unnerved Arce, whose popularity has plummeted as the country’s foreign exchange reserves dwindle, its natural gas exports collapse and its currency’s peg to the U.S. dollar collapses.

The liquidity crisis has increased pressure on Arce to eliminate food and fuel subsidies that are a burden on public finances – a controversial step ahead of the elections.

Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo said Wednesday’s unrest stemmed from a private meeting on Tuesday in which Arce fired Zuñiga after the latter threatened to arrest Morales if he ran in the 2025 presidential election. Arce also disputed the legitimacy of Morales’ presidential candidacy.

At their meeting, Zuñiga gave officials no indication that he was preparing to take power, Novillo said.

“He admitted that he had committed some excesses,” he said of Zuñiga. “We said goodbye in the most friendly way, with hugs. Zuñiga said he would always be by the president’s side.”

Just a few hours later, panic broke out in the capital, La Paz. Pursued by armored vehicles and supporters, Zuñiga stormed the government building and declared that the aim of the armed forces was to “restore Bolivia’s democracy.”

The influx of soldiers sent Bolivians into turmoil, crowding ATMs, lining up at gas stations and looting grocery stores. By one count, Bolivia has seen more than 190 coups and revolutions since its independence in 1825.

The country’s fragmented opposition rejected the coup before it was clear it had failed. Former interim president Jeanine Áñez, who is imprisoned for her role in Morales’ ouster in 2019, said the soldiers were trying to “destroy the constitutional order” but appealed to both Arce and Morales not to run in the 2025 elections.

Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho, who is also imprisoned on charges of staging a coup in 2019, demanded answers from Arce’s government on Thursday.

“Was it a media spectacle staged by the government itself, as General Zúñiga says? Was it just military madness? Was it simply another example of a lack of control?” he wrote on the social media platform X.

Zúñiga’s response was a shock: he told reporters that Arce had directly ordered him to storm the palace and bring armored vehicles into downtown La Paz.

“The president told me: ‘The situation is very complicated, very critical. It is necessary to prepare something to increase my popularity,'” Zúñiga claimed the Bolivian president told him this.

Bolivian authorities have denied Zúñiga’s claims, insisting the general lied to justify his actions. Prosecutors said they would seek the maximum sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison for Zúñiga, accusing him of “attacking the constitution.”

Political experts find it difficult to understand the reasons for Wednesday’s turbulence.

“This is the strangest coup attempt I have ever seen,” said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivia-based research group. “Bolivia’s democracy remains very fragile and is definitely much more fragile today than it was yesterday.”