Military flees Bolivia government palace, general in custody after coup attempt fails

Supporters of President Luis Arce chase soldiers as they flee from Plaza Murillo, after a failed coup attempt in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024.LA PAZ, Bolivia — Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia's government palace Wednesday in an apparent coup attempt, but President Luis Arce vowed to stand firm and named a new army commander who ordered troops to stand down.

However, shortly before his arrest Zúñiga claimed 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. The spectacle outraged regional leaders and shocked Bolivians, no stranger to political unrest; in 2019 Morales was ousted as president following an earlier political crisis.

Shortly after, 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. 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.

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.

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