By Hedelberto López Blanch on June 27, 2024
thousands fill the Murillo Plaza after failed coup attempt in La Paz.
It was not long before the legitimate Bolivian government of Luis Arce faced an attempted military coup led by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Juan José Zúñiga that it failed. The firm position of the president, the support of the workers’ organizations and the people, managed to stop the onslaught.
Of great importance was the live coverage provided by Telesur, which at the same time as it offered live images, its correspondent and the studio announcers gave data and offered declarations from leaders and organizations of the world that rejected the coup.
On Wednesday, June 26, while President Arce was meeting with his team in the Government House, the Murillo Square was invaded by hundreds of soldiers, who repressed with gases the people present there and broke the door of the Palacio Quemado and then tried to take over the Executive Branch.
Two dozen armed military entered under the orders of General Zúñiga, who was vigorously confronted in a discussion by President Arce and members of the government. A video that has been exposed in social networks details the moments of the quarrel in which the president at all times takes the initiative and orders the seditious to withdraw and to respect the democracy.
In statements to members of the press covering the event, Zúñiga announced that he had ordered the release of all “political prisoners,” including former de facto president Jeanine Añez, Luis Fernando Camacho and others implicated in the 2019 coup against Evo Morales.
Two days earlier, Zúñiga in a television interview said that former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) could not run again for a presidential mandate, and that if he advanced in that purpose, the military would arrest him. These statements were not accepted by Arce, who had already decided to remove him from office.
After rejecting the general’s intimidation and demands, the president renewed the entire military leadership and got the coup leaders to leave the Plaza Murillo. At nightfall the coup leader was arrested, together with other leaders and placed at the disposal of the courts.
General Zúñiga has a dark record as he was at the center of accusations for several actions, among them his alleged participation in the “Plan Negro”, an operation aimed at persecuting political and social leaders. In addition, he faces accusations of embezzlement of public funds.
All indications are that this has been a new tactic of a Soft Coup d’Etat, that is, extreme right-wing elements with direct connections to the United States would seize power without many victims, leave the president in his post and force him to follow their orders. Arce’s intransigence position did not allow it.
The tension that has existed in recent months between former President Evo Morales and Luis Arce has also facilitated the disunity of the progressive forces, and opportunities for the right wing to feel that it has the window to seize power.
It was also symptomatic that a few days ago, the Bolivian Foreign Ministry summoned the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy, Debra Hevia, for alleged acts of interference in the internal politics of the country. The president of the Association of Relatives of the Detained, Disappeared and Martyrs for National Liberation (ASOFAMD), denounced that this office “operates in Bolivia through several civil society organizations, which claim to defend human rights”.
Also to be taken into account are the continuous trips to South American countries made by the head of the Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, and her interest in keeping the region under the aegis of the United States.
In one of her appearances at the congress she stated that Latin America is relevant for Washington because the region has “rich resources and rare earth elements, 60% of the lithium in the triangle (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile) which is necessary for current technology, the largest oil reserves are found in the area, in addition to those recently discovered in Guyana; the resources of Venezuela are found, oil, gold and copper; we have the lungs of the world, the Amazon; also 31% of the fresh water of the world in this region. I mean we have a lot to do, this region matters, it has a lot to do with our national security and we have to step up our game.”
During a conversation in January 2023 with the Atlantic Council think tank, the general referred to Russia as her “number two adversary” in the region -after China-, due to the Eurasian country’s relations with Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Finally, Arce’s recent visit to Moscow and his intention to join the BRICS bloc has not been well received by US hawks.
For all these reasons, Bolivia is in the “eye of the hurricane” and only the effective union between its leaders, social organizations and its people will be able to stop the constant threats blowing from the North with the help of the right wing opposition in the country.
Hedelberto López Blanch is a Cuban journatilist who writes for the daily Juventud Rebelde and the weekly Opciones. He is also the author of several books. the author of “La Emigración cubana en Estados Unidos”, “Historias Secretas de Médicos Cubanos en África” and “Miami, dinero sucio”, among others.
Source: Cuba en Resumen