Bolivia lived through some dramatic moments today, when the commander in chief of the Army Gen. Juan José Zúñiga (who had been relieved of duty a day earlier) threatened to overthrow the government of President Luis Arce Catacora, demanding that a new cabinet be named and “political prisoners” released. Zúñiga also claimed he was acting to prevent former President Evo Morales from running for President again, claiming he would destroy the country. A Bolivian court has already ruled that Morales is ineligible to run again.
Regardless of who Zúñiga is, or the details of his claims, understand that this is not a matter of internal politics. Bolivia is a candidate to become a member of the BRICS, which is expected to occur at the BRICS Oct. 22 summit of leaders in Kazan, Russia. President Arce has very clearly stated his commitment to the worldview that the BRICS represents, and, as a special guest of President Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 5-7, and in other remarks at that forum, he discussed the importance of the emerging multipolar world, free from neocolonialism and the strictures of the “rules-based order.”
Thus, removing him from power would be convenient for those Anglo-American forces which have also targeted Brazil, the BRICS leader in South America, and which bolster the pathetic Argentine President Javier Milei, who is deployed against Brazil and the BRICS momentum in Ibero-America.
Today, Zúñiga’s forces occupied the central Plaza Murrillo with troops and tanks in front of the historic Palacio Quemado, the presidential palace, and also the National Congress. His forces broke down the palace door with a tank and forced their way into the building, where President Arce confronted them and told them to stand down. Initially Zúñiga refused, but after some tense hours, ordered his troops in the plaza to withdraw. Earlier in the day, Arce had denounced the “irregular movement of troops,” and called on the Bolivian people “to organize and mobilize to defend democracy.” Once army troops withdrew, Arce swore in the new commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
In a speech to supporters in the palace, he “saluted those officers who wear their uniform with pride and value the Armed Forces in a democratically-elected government,” Los Tiempos reported him saying. The Presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela sent statements of support to Arce, and Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa Lunda called on the international community to speak out in support of President Arce and Bolivian democracy.
