A coup attempt fails in Bolivia

After a failed military coup attempt in Bolivia, police detained three high-ranking military generals.

Reuters reported on this.

On the evening of June 26, a group of Bolivian soldiers led by high-ranking rebel generals stormed the presidential palace in La Paz, the unofficial capital.

The military used armored vehicles to break into the building. The rebels also occupied the city’s main square.

The assault was led by General Juan Jose Zuniga, who was recently stripped of his military command. Zuniga stated that the military’s goal was to restore democracy in the country and promised to release political prisoners from jail.

“The armed forces intend to rebuild the democracy, to make it a real democracy, not one that has been ruled by the same people for 30-40 years,” Zuniga said, standing outside the presidential palace surrounded by soldiers and eight armored vehicles.

At the same time, Luis Arce, the current president of the country, tried to seize the initiative by calling for resistance from the local population and appointing a new commander of the Armed Forces of Bolivia. The latter called on the military involved in the operation to leave the city square and the residence.

“I order that all personnel mobilized on the streets return to their units. We entreat that the blood of our soldiers not be spilled,” the new commander said.

After that, the military started to leave the seized building and Murillo Square. The rebel leader Zuniga was captured on eyewitness video leaving the residence in an armored vehicle.

After the military retreated from the square, the local police took it under control.

Soon after, the Bolivian Attorney General detained the general, as well as two other high-ranking officials: Air Force General Marcelo Javier Segarra and Navy Vice Admiral Juan Arnez Salvador.

Bolivian Interior Minister Carlos del Castillo said that they were all taken to a police station. The deputy minister added that nine people were injured in the coup attempt. The Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office accuses General Zuniga of terrorism.

Surrounded by new military leaders, Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo announced that “everything is now under control.” He stated that the country had suffered a “failed coup.”