The Bolivians held their breath yesterday afternoon. Soldiers, with shields, weapons and bulletproof vests, moved steadily towards the presidential palace in the capital, La Paz. “Hah-hah,” they shouted. Under the leadership of General Juan José Zúñiga, soldiers lined up outside the government palace in La Paz. Photo: AIZAR RALDES / AFP An armored military vehicle thundered towards the front door of “The Burnt Palace”, a nickname that derives from when a mob threw torches at the building almost 150 years ago. Former defense chief Juan José Zúñiga was fired on Tuesday. This Wednesday, he led the coup attempt. Once inside, the ex-boss met the president in the corridor. The meeting between the two was rather absurd. Bolivian President Arce met the coup plotters in the corridor of the “Burnt Palace”. – I am your captain!, said President Luis Arce to Zúñiga while an eyewitness filmed the sequence with his mobile phone. The president raised his index finger at him and continued: – Then obey my orders, captain or general: Order all military police to the barracks at once! Ex-defense chief Zúñiga, who both looked down and away when the president spoke to him, replied softly that it “cannot be done”. The president then appointed a new chief of defense who ordered the forces to withdraw. Hours later, Zúñiga was in custody and the attempt was cancelled. The whole thing lasted no more than three or four hours. Most Bolivians could probably breathe a sigh of relief. Bolivian President Luis Arce could raise his fist after the coup crisis in the capital La Paz yesterday afternoon. After the coup attempt was a fact, he appointed a new army commander who ordered the forces to withdraw. Photo: Juan Karita / AP – A shocking coup attempt Bolivia is the country with the most coups in the world since 1950, and most likely also in the last 200 years, according to researchers Jonathan Powell and Thyne Clayton at the University of Kentucky Now the researchers can add another attempt to on the sensational list of the world’s most coup-affected countries. General Juan José Zúñiga has been arrested after the alleged coup attempt in Bolivia on Wednesday. Now he risks up to 30 years in prison. Photo: Juan Karita / AP / NTB Powell and Clayton are shocked by what they call a “very amateurish” coup attempt. Bolivia has now had 24 coups in total, of which 13 were unsuccessful. In the vernacular, it is said that the country has been through between 150 and 200 coups, if you also count small attempts made by guerrilla groups and others, since liberation from Spain in 1825. A journalist in the major Spanish newspaper El País calls Bolivia a “political volcano with constant outbursts”. 40 years since last Yesterday’s attempt was the first in 40 years, since 1984. Yes, if you don’t count the controversial “coup”, according to the then sitting president Evo Morales, five years ago. Bolivia’s longest-serving president, Morales, made history when he was the first with an indigenous background to take the presidency. But when, after 13 years as president, he was accused of electoral fraud and of trying to circumvent the constitution to be able to sit as president forever, massive protests broke out in the streets. The military did not support him. The political crisis was a fact and Morales escaped to Mexico and Argentina for exile. Now he has taken up the fight to become party leader of the same party as President Luis Arce, Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS). Former president Evo Morales is Bolivia’s longest-serving president after three terms. He tried to circumvent the constitution and sit a fourth, but was stopped. Now he is fighting to once again become party leader of the same party as the incumbent president Luis Arce. There are presidential elections in 2025. Photo: Juan Karita / AP A flood of coup d’état jokes With such a dramatic story, social media is overflowing with Bolivians who can’t help but joke. “The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay 2024 goes to President Luis Arce”, is the message on a manipulated photo being sent around. The president won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay after his conversation with the coup plotter in the presidential palace corridor, according to this manipulated images that are circulating in newspapers and on social media in Bolivia. Photo: EJU TV Others have baked sweet heart-shaped biscuits. “My first coup d’état”, is emblazoned in red food coloring on them – similar to the caption of a photo of a woman happily posing by an armored car during the coup d’état. Here are several reasons why the coup d’état was a failure. 1. Whimsical timing That the army enters the corridors of power around 4 o’clock one afternoon is not usual and rather amateurish, according to coup d’état expert Jonathan Powell in the USA. Coup d’états usually start before dawn and by sunrise physical blockades are in place outside central buildings. It is not common to see soldiers carrying out the coup in daylight. The exception is if the government becomes suspicious of the coup plans and starts arresting those involved. It can lead to the coup plotters speeding up their plans and carrying out at inopportune times, as in the coup attempt against Erdogan in Turkey in 2016. The ex-defense chief Juan José Zúñiga is on his way to the presidential palace inside an armored vehicle. A while later he was arrested. Photo: Juan Karita / AP 2. No arrest of the president In a serious coup d’état, the president or prime minister is arrested and arrested. Another option is for the head of state to flee abroad. In this case, the ex-army commander had a conversation with the president while the ministers were left alone. Neither the Congress nor the presidential palace was closed. The president appointed a new army commander who quickly ordered the forces to withdraw. Including yesterday’s attempt, Bolivia has had 24 coups in total, of which 13 were unsuccessful. Photo: Juan Karita/AP. 3. The army chief was fired Ex-army chief Juan José Zúñiga lost his job on Tuesday this week because he has repeatedly threatened the former president Evo Morales to arrest him. “He cannot become president again in this country,” Zúñiga stated. It is far more difficult for an ex-army leader to bring soldiers along for a coup than someone who is actually in leadership. Coup leaders usually wait to attempt a coup until the chance of success is at its highest. That was not the case with Zúñiga. According to the Bolivian authorities, no more than around 200 military personnel were involved in the attempt. 17 people have now been arrested and they risk between 14 and 30 years in prison if they are convicted, reports Bolivian TV. The army commander did not have the people behind him either. It was the president who mobilized and asked the people to take to the streets to protect democracy. 3. Alleged reinforcements did not arrive According to the former army chief, Juan José Zúñiga, more military forces were to help during the coup d’état. But they were delayed when they were going to the center of La Paz. This applied to both army forces and soldiers from the Air Force, announced the Minister of the Presidency María Nela Prada at a press conference late yesterday. Information is said to have been given by Zúñiga himself to the police during questioning. It is said that Bolivia has had between 150 and 200 coups, if the term is extended to include small attempts by guerrilla groups and others, since its liberation from Spain in 1825. Photo: AIZAR RALDES / AFP 4. The wrong decade Coup d’etats have almost never happened in Latin- America since the Cold War, with the exception of the coup d’état in Honduras in 2009. Coup d’etats rarely happen in the modern world, although countries in Africa, often with instability and civil wars, have had several cases in recent times. The international community condemned the coup attempt quickly after it became a fact. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the EU condemns “any attempt to break the constitutional order in Bolivia and to overthrow democratically elected governments”. Bolivia is said to have had between 150 and 200 coups, if the term is expanded to include small attempts by guerrilla groups and others, since its liberation from Spain in 1825. Photo: AIZAR RALDES / AFP Claims from cella The Bolivian newspaper El Diario reports that Defense Chief Juan José Zúñiga reportedly said the president told him he “needed to do something to become more popular.” Several voices in Bolivia are now reporting that it was all an orchestrated coup d’état created by President Luis Arce himself to increase the chances of being re-elected as president in 2025. It is unlikely and rather a conspiracy theory, says coup researcher Jonathan Powell. In order to achieve this, the coup plotters must be willing in advance to be prosecuted later. Published 27.06.2024, at 22.33 Updated 27.06.2024, at 22.54
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This is why the attempted coup d’état in Bolivia was unsuccessful – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
