Arce’s directions had been to “stage one thing to boost his recognition,” Zuniga mentioned.
Former president Evo Morales wrote on social media platform X that “a coup d’etat is brewing” and urged a “nationwide mobilisation to defend democracy”.
ZUNIGA’S ANTI-DEMOCRATIC REMARKS
Bolivia is deeply polarised after years of political instability and the ruling Motion In the direction of Socialism (MAS) celebration is riven by inside battle between supporters of Arce and his former mentor Morales.
Morales, who was Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, was extraordinarily standard till he tried to bypass the structure and search a fourth time period in workplace in 2019.
The leftist and former coca union chief gained that vote however was pressured to resign amid lethal protests over alleged election fraud, and fled the nation.
He returned after Arce gained the presidency in October 2020.
Since then an influence wrestle has grown between the 2 males, and Morales has more and more criticised the federal government and accused it of corruption, tolerating drug trafficking, and sidelining him politically.
Six months in the past, the Constitutional Courtroom disqualified Morales from the 2025 elections, nonetheless he’s nonetheless in search of nomination because the MAS candidate.
Arce has not mentioned whether or not he’ll search re-election.
Zuniga appeared on tv on Monday and mentioned he would arrest Morales if he insisted on working for workplace once more in 2025.
“Legally he’s disqualified, that man can’t be president of this nation once more,” he mentioned.
Since that interview, rumours have swirled that Zuniga was on the verge of being dismissed.
CALLS FOR CALM
The US administration of Joe Biden mentioned it was preserving an in depth eye on occasions in Bolivia and “requires calm,” in keeping with a spokesperson for the Nationwide Safety Council.
United Nations Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres was “deeply involved” by occasions in Bolivia and known as on all actors, together with the army, to “shield the constitutional order and to protect a local weather of peace”, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric mentioned in an announcement.
Condemnations of the troop actions additionally poured in from throughout Latin America, with leaders of Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela calling for democracy to be revered.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on X: “I’m a lover of democracy and I would like it to prevail all through Latin America. We condemn any type of coup d’etat in Bolivia.”
The Group of American States (OAS) mentioned the worldwide neighborhood would “not tolerate any type of breach of the professional constitutional order in Bolivia.”
