Sawt Falasteen - Bolivian president slams 'coup' as troops, tanks deploy

AFP reporters saw soldiers and tanks entering Plaza Murillo, a historic square where the presidency and Congress are situated. One of the tanks tried to break down a metal door of the presidential palace.

Speaking outside the presidency, surrounded by soldiers and eight tanks, army chief General Juan Jose Zuniga confirmed his uprising against the government.

"The Armed Forces intend to restructure democracy, to make it a true democracy and not one run by the same few people for 30, 40 years," he said.

Shortly thereafter, AFP reporters saw soldiers and tanks pulling back from the square.

Arce urged "the Bolivian people to organize and mobilize against the coup d'etat in favor of democracy," in a televised message to the country alongside his ministers inside the presidential palace.

Former president Evo Morales wrote on X that "a coup d'Etat is brewing" and also urged a "national mobilization to defend democracy."

- Zuniga's anti-democratic remarks -

Rumors have been circulating since Tuesday that Zuniga was on the verge of being dismissed.

The military official appeared on television on Monday and said he would arrest Morales -- Bolivia's first Indigenous president -- if he insisted on running for office again in 2025 despite being disqualified from doing so.

Bolivia has seen several periods of political instability in recent years.

Morales was extremely popular until he tried to bypass the constitution and seek a fourth term in office in 2019.

The leftist and former coca union leader won that vote but was forced to resign amid deadly protests over alleged election fraud, and fled the country.

He returned after his ally-turned-foe Luis Arce won the presidency in October 2020.

Supporters of Morales in January set up days of road blockades to protest his disqualification.

Condemnations of the troop movements poured in from across Latin America, with leaders of Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela calling for democracy to be respected.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on X: "I am a lover of democracy and I want it to prevail throughout Latin America. We condemn any form of coup d'etat in Bolivia."

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday called for "respect for democracy and the rule of law," in a message on X.

The Organization of American States (OAS) also condemned the troop movements.

"The international community, the general secretariat of the OAS will not tolerate any form of breach of the legitimate constitutional order in Bolivia or anywhere else," said secretary general Luis Almagro.

O.Farraj--SF-PST