Bolivian Government Denounces Attempted Coup D’éTat
Military Tanks in the Murillo square, June 26,2024 Photo: @ReporterosMX_
June 26, 2024 Hour: 3:49 pm
The head of state calls for respect for democracy.
The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce Catacora, denounced this Wednesday irregular mobilizations of Bolivian military units.
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Local media in the area have reported the movement of at least 8 military tankettes, full of armed soldiers, in the areas of Plaza Murillo where the Government Palace and the Plurinational Legislative Assembly are located.
Through the social network X, the head of state said: We denounce irregular mobilizations of some units of the Bolivian Army. Democracy must be respected».
Likewise, in a message to the Bolivian people accompanied by his cabinet of ministers, he said:
“We need the Bolivian people to organize and mobilize against the coup and in favor of democracy. We cannot allow Bolivian lives to be taken away once again by coup attempts. We want to urge everyone to defend democracy and here we stand firm in Casa Grande with the whole cabinet, with our social organizations. We greet the social organizations and cordially invite them to show the way of democracy to the Bolivian people”.
Also the vice president of Bolivia, David Choquehuanca, also denounced this fact «against our democratically elected government».
The irregular military are masked, provocative and violent. The soldiers are part of the Bolivian armed forces and are led by General Juan José Zúñiga, leader of the Bolivian armed forces.
The Minister of Government, Eduardo del Castillo, went there and tried to communicate with members of one of the military vehicles, inside which was the general Zúñiga.
Del Castillo tried to find out who gave the order to move the military contingent and asked Zúñiga for explanations.
Zúñiga entered the Government Palace and said that all forces are mobilized», demanding a total change of cabinet. He then returned to the inside of the tank parked in Plaza Murillo.
We denounce to the International community that in Bolivia there is a Coup d’état against our democratically elected Government.
Later, the Minister of Public Works, Edgar Montaño, said that «what we Bolivians are going to do is defend all of Bolivia and its inhabitants», recalling that democracy had already been restored.
According to teleSUR correspondent Freddy Morales, the number of soldiers in Plaza Murillo is high. They shut down revenue to this area and prevent journalists from working.
The former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, also joined the messages denouncing the coup. Evo says “the Coup d’état is brewing. At this time, personnel from the Armed Forces and tanks are deployed in Plaza Murillo”.
“Call on the social movements of the countryside and the city to defend democracy”, the former president says.
For her part, the Minister of the Presidency, María Nela Prada, denounced «to the Bolivian people and the international community an attempted coup d’état here in the Plurinational State of Bolivia», and reported that «have taken the four corners, inside the square Murillo and in the front of the Government Palace».
The minister indicates that outside the Plurinational Legislative Assembly there are troops taking the whole street that do not allow entry to that institution.
“We must avoid this”, as well as the repetition of a coup d’état in the country that could end in other tragedies.
For his part, teleSUR correspondent in Bolivia, Freddy Morales, indicated that General Juan José Zúñiga had returned to the tankette without offering statements, and recalled that the Army faction known as the Colorado Movement of Bolivia is the one that guards President Luis Arce and the former Government Palace, known as the Burnt Palace.
«This regiment depends on General Zúñiga and the Army. It is a detail that must be taken into account, in a context where the minister of the presidency has warned that it is an attempted coup», he said.
According to Morales, the tankette carrying General Zúñiga began to move. “You can see that it has a bullet mat, which a soldier drives from the turret of this tankette,” he said.
He also detailed that one of the tankettes has advanced towards the Legislative Palace, down the street leading to Miraflores. «It has advanced about twenty meters, to push people who are concentrated in the corner shouting against what is seen as an attempted coup», he described.
Morales also claims that the police use tear gas against people who protest in rejection of the coup attempt.
Then, the correspondent of teleSUR reported that Zúñiga came out of the tankette to announce the release of the former de facto president, Jeanine Áñez; «has pointed out the name several times of the former governor of Santa Cruz, the lord (Fernando) Camacho, who is imprisoned for the 2019 coup d’état process (…) He has said that there will not be a single political prisoner left in Bolivia and that his comrades who have house detention or preventive detention, within the framework of the 2019 coup process, will also be released».
Bolivia was the scene of a coup in November 2019. It was organized by the U.S. and the local right with the complicity of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Autor: CC
Fuente: teleSURtv
