Bolivian General Arrested after Apparent Failed Coup Attempt as Government Faces New Crisis

Led by a top general vowing to “restore democracy,” armored vehicles rammed the doors of Bolivia's government palace Wednesday in what the president called a coup attempt, then quickly retreated — the latest crisis in the South American country facing a political battle and an economic crisis.
Within hours, the nation of 12 million people saw a rapidly moving scenario in which the troops seemed to take control of the government of President Luis Arce. He vowed to stand firm and named a new army commander, who immediately ordered the troops to stand down, The Associated Press said.
Soon the soldiers pulled back, along with a line of military vehicles, ending the rebellion after just three hours. Hundreds of Arce’s supporters then rushed the square outside the palace, waving Bolivian flags, singing the national anthem and cheering.
The soldiers' retreat was followed by the arrest of army chief Gen. Juan José Zúñiga, after the attorney general opened an investigation.
Government Minister Eduardo del Castillo said that in addition to Zúñiga, former navy Vice Adm. Juan Arnez Salvador was taken into custody.
“What was this group’s goal? The goal was to overturn the democratically elected authority,” del Castillo told journalists in announcing the arrests.
Late Wednesday, Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo said “everything is now under control.” Surrounded by the new military chiefs appointed by Arce, Novillo said that Bolivia lived a “failed coup.”
The apparent coup attempt came as the country has faced months of tensions and political fights between Arce and his one-time ally, former leftist president Evo Morales, over control of the ruling party. It also came amid a severe economic crisis.
The clashes have paralyzed the government’s efforts to deal with the economic crisis. For example, Morales’ allies in Congress have consistently thwarted Arce’s attempts to take on debt to relieve some of the pressure.
Zúñiga referenced that paralysis during the rebellion, telling reporters the military was tired of the infighting and was seeking “to restore democracy.”
“We are listening to the cry of the people because for many years an elite has taken control of the country,” he said, adding that politicians are “destroying the country: look at what situation we are in, what crisis they have left us in.”
“The armed forces intend to restore the democracy, to make it a true democracy," he said.
The rapidly unfolding crisis began in the early afternoon as the streets of La Paz started filling with soldiers. Arce tweeted that the troops deployment was irregular and soon he and other political figures warned of an attempted coup.
Still, the apparent attempt to depose the sitting president seemed to lack any meaningful support, and even Arce’s rivals closed ranks to defend democracy and repudiate the uprising.
In a twist, Zúñiga claimed in comments to journalists before his arrest that Arce himself told the general 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 quoted the Bolivian leader as saying.
Zúñiga said he asked Arce if he should “take out the armored vehicles?” and Arce replied, “Take them out.”
Justice Minister Iván Lima denied Zúñiga’s claims, saying the general was lying and trying to justify his actions for which he said he will face justice.
Prosecutors will seek the maximum sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison for Zúñiga, Lima said via the social media platform X, “for having attacked democracy and the Constitution.”
The spectacle shocked Bolivians, no stranger to political unrest; in 2019 Morales was ousted as president following an earlier political crisis.
As the crisis unfolded Wednesday, Arce confronted Zúñiga in the palace hallway, as shown on video on Bolivian television. “I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination,” Arce said.
Surrounded by ministers, he added: “Here we are, firm in Casa Grande, to confront any coup attempt. We need the Bolivian people to organize.”
Less than an hour later, Arce announced new heads of the army, navy and air force amid the roar of supporters, and thanked the country’s police and regional allies for standing by him. 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 named army chief José Wilson Sánchez. “No one wants the images we’re seeing in the streets.”
Shortly after, the armored vehicles roared out of the plaza, tailed by hundreds of military fighters as police in riot gear set up blockades outside the government palace.
The incident was met with a wave of outrage by other regional leaders, including the Organization of American States, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, the leader of Honduras, and former Bolivian leaders.
Gustavo Flores-Macias, a professor of government and public policy focusing on Latin America at Cornell University, said it’s important that world leaders and organizations keep up their condemnation of the coup attempt as developments unfold.
“If we allow the interruption of the constitutional order to take place in Bolivia, it could serve a demonstration effect,” Flores-Macias said from New York in an interview with The Associated Press. “It could send a signal that if this is OK to happen in Bolivia, it could happen elsewhere.”
Bolivia has seen intensifying protests in recent months over the economy’s precipitous decline from one of the continent’s fastest-growing two decades ago to one of its most crisis-stricken.
Arce and Morales have been battling for the future of Bolivia’s splintering Movement for Socialism, known by its Spanish acronym MAS, ahead of elections in 2025.
Following Wednesday's chaos, reports on local media showed Bolivians stocking up on food and other essentials in supermarkets, concerned about what will come next.
But addressing supporters outside the presidential palace, the country’s vice president, David Choquehuanca, vowed: "Never again will the Bolivian people permit coup attempts.”

Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a decision to remove the Taliban from a list of terrorist organizations had been "taken at the highest level", the state TASS news agency reported.
The decision needs to be followed up with various legal procedures in order to make it a reality, President Vladimir Putin's special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, was quoted as saying.
Putin said in July that Russia considered Afghanistan's Taliban movement an ally in the fight against terrorism.
Russia has been slowly building ties with the Taliban since it seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war but the movement is still officially outlawed in Russia.
No country has formally recognized the Taliban as the country's legitimate leadership.
Russia added the Taliban to its list of terrorist organizations in 2003. Removing it would be an important step by Moscow towards normalizing relations with Afghanistan.
The Taliban's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said in a speech in Moscow that recent decisions by Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to remove the former insurgents from a list of banned groups was a welcome step.
"We also appreciate the positive remarks by the high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation in this regard and hope to see more effective steps soon," he said.
In separate comments on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was convinced of the need to maintain "pragmatic dialogue" with the current Afghan government.
"It is obvious that it is impossible to solve problems or even discuss an Afghan settlement without Kabul," Lavrov said.
"Moscow will continue its course on developing political, trade and economic ties with Kabul," he added, speaking at a meeting in Moscow with Muttaqi and representatives of neighboring countries.
While he did not mention the Taliban by name, he praised the current Afghan leadership for its efforts to curb drug production and fight ISIS, which is outlawed in Russia.
Muttaqi said that countries in the region should cooperate against the ISIS group, which he said had established training centers outside Afghanistan.
Lavrov said the United States should return confiscated assets to Afghanistan and the West should acknowledge responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of the country.
Lavrov also called for an increase in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, and said Russia would keep sending it food and essential goods.
Russia has a troubled history in Afghanistan, where the Soviet army invaded in 1979 to support a pro-Moscow government but withdrew 10 years later after sustaining heavy casualties at the hands of fighters.
Russia and its post-Soviet neighbors have suffered recurrent attacks from militant groups linked to Afghanistan - most recently in March, when 145 people were killed in an attack claimed by ISIS at a concert hall near Moscow.

Bolivian General Arrested after Apparent Failed Coup Attempt as Government Faces New Crisis