Coup attempt under way in Bolivia as president urges people to mobilise against it

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Armoured vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia's government palace Wednesday as President Luis Arce said the country faced an attempted coup, insisted he stands firm and urged people to mobilise.

In a video of Arce surrounded by ministers in the palace, he said: “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 organise.”

Arce confronted the general commander of the Army — Juan José Zúñiga, who appeared to be leading the rebellion — 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.

Before entering the government building, Zúñiga told journalists in the plaza: “Surely soon there will be a new Cabinet of ministers; our country, our state cannot go on like this.” Zúñiga said that “for now” he recognises Arce as commander in chief.

Zúñiga did not explicitly say he's leading a coup, but in the palace, with bangs echoing behind him, he said the army was trying to “restore democracy and free our political prisoners.”

In a message on his X account, Arce called for “democracy to be respected.” It came as Bolivian television showed two tanks and a number of men in military uniform in front of the government palace.

“We cannot allow, once again, coup attempts to take the lives of Bolivians,” he said from inside the palace, surrounded by government officials, in a video message sent to news outlets.

Former President Evo Morales, also in a message on X, denounced the movement of the military in the Murillo square outside the palace, calling it a coup “in the making.”

María Nela Prada, minister of the presidency and a top Bolivian official, called it an “attempted coup d'etat.”

“The people are on alert to defend democracy,” she said to local television station Red Uno.

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