17 more people arrested in attempted coup that shook Bolivia, government says

LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivian President Luis Arce on Thursday angrily known as accusations that he was behind an tried coup in opposition to his authorities “lies,” saying the overall who apparently led it acted on his personal and vowing that he would face justice.

Arce’s feedback, his first to the press since Wednesday’s failed obvious coup, got here after the overall concerned, Juan José Zúñiga, alleged with out offering proof that the president had ordered him to hold out the mutiny in a ruse to spice up his flagging recognition.

That fueled hypothesis about what actually occurred, even after the federal government introduced the arrest of 17 folks, most of them navy officers. Opposition senators and authorities critics joined the refrain of doubters, calling the mutiny a “self-coup.”

Some Bolivians mentioned they believed Zúñiga’s allegations. “They’re enjoying with the intelligence of the folks, as a result of no one believes that it was an actual coup,” mentioned 48-year-old lawyer Evaristo Mamani.

These claims have been strongly denied by Arce and his authorities. “I’m not a politician who’s going to win recognition via the blood of the folks,” he mentioned Thursday.

In the meantime, Arce’s supporters rallied outdoors the presidential palace on Thursday, giving some political respiration room to the embattled chief as authorities made extra arrests in a failed coup that shook the economically troubled nation.

Among the many 17 folks arrested are the military chief, Gen. Zúñiga, and former navy Vice Adm. Juan Arnez Salvador, who had been taken into custody the day earlier than. All face prices of armed rebellion and assaults in opposition to authorities infrastructure, and penalties of 15 years in jail or extra, mentioned the nation’s legal professional common, César Siles.

The president claimed that not solely navy officers had been concerned within the plan, however folks retired from the navy and civil society. He didn’t elaborate.

The South American nation of 12 million watched in shock and bewilderment Wednesday as navy forces appeared to activate Arce, seizing management of the capital’s principal sq. with armored automobiles, repeatedly crashing a small tank into the presidential palace and unleashing tear gasoline on protesters.

Senior Cupboard member Eduardo del Castillo mentioned among the many arrested was one civilian, recognized as Aníbal Aguilar Gómez, who was as a key “ideologue” of the thwarted coup. He mentioned the alleged conspirators started plotting in Could.

Riot police guarded the palace doorways and Arce — who has struggled to handle the nation’s shortages of international foreign money and gasoline — emerged on the presidential balcony as his supporters surged into the streets singing the nationwide anthem and cheering as fireworks exploded overhead. “Nobody can take democracy away from us,” he roared.

Bolivians responded by chanting, “Lucho, you aren’t alone!”

Analysts say the eruption of public help for Arce, even when fleeting, offers him with a reprieve from the nation’s financial quagmire and political turmoil. The president is locked in a deepening rivalry with common former President Evo Morales, his erstwhile ally who has threatened to problem Arce in 2025.

“The president’s administration has been very unhealthy, there are not any {dollars}, there isn’t a petrol,” mentioned La Paz-based political analyst Paul Coca. “Yesterday’s navy transfer goes to assist his picture a bit, but it surely’s no answer.”

Quickly after Wednesday’s navy maneuver was underway, it grew to become clear that any tried takeover had no significant political help. The insurrection handed bloodlessly on the finish of the enterprise day. In a rare scene, Arce argued strongly with Zúñiga and his allies face-to-face within the plaza outdoors the palace earlier than returning inside to call a brand new military commander.

“What we noticed is extraordinarily uncommon for coup d’etats in Latin America, and it raises purple flags,” mentioned Diego von Vacano, an professional in Bolivian politics at Texas A&M College and former casual adviser to President Arce. “Arce regarded like a sufferer yesterday and a hero at the moment, defending democracy.”

Talking in Paraguay on Thursday, U.S. deputy secretary of state for administration, Wealthy Verma, condemned Zúñiga, saying that “democracy stays fragile in our hemisphere.”

The short-lived mutiny adopted months of mounting tensions between Arce and Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president. Morales has staged a dramatic political comeback since mass protests and a lethal crackdown prompted him to resign and flee in 2019 — a military-backed ouster that his supporters decry as a coup.

Morales has vowed to run in opposition to Arce in 2025, a prospect that has rattled Arce, whose recognition has plunged because the nation’s international foreign money reserves dwindle, its pure gasoline exports plummet and its foreign money peg to the U.S. greenback collapses.

Morales’ allies in Congress have made it virtually inconceivable for Arce to control. The money crunch has ramped up strain on Arce to scrap meals and gasoline subsidies that depleted state funds.

Protection Minister Edmundo Novillo informed reporters that Zuñiga’s coup try had its roots in a non-public assembly Tuesday through which Arce sacked over the military chief’s threats on nationwide TV to arrest Morales if he proceeded to hitch the 2025 race.

However Zuñiga gave officers no indication he was making ready to grab energy, Novillo mentioned.

“He admitted that he had dedicated some excesses,” he mentioned of Zuñiga. “We mentioned goodbye in essentially the most pleasant approach, with hugs. Zuñiga mentioned that he would at all times be in conjunction with the president.”

Professional-democracy advocates have already expressed doubt that any government-led investigation will be trusted.

“Judicial independence is principally zero, the credibility of the judiciary is on the ground,” mentioned Juan Pappier, deputy director of the Americas at Human Rights Watch. “Not solely can we not know at the moment what occurred, we most likely won’t ever know.”

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DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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Observe AP’s protection of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america