ASSUMPTION.- He President of Bolivia, Luis Arce, He said this Monday from Asunción that his government faces serious risks after being accused by the former president Evo Morales of orchestrating a self-coup on June 26 to stay in power.
“The danger of shortening my mandate, by whatever means, has not disappeared, nor has the firmness of our people and their government to defend democracy and the Cultural Democratic Revolution receded one millimeter,” said Arce.
The Bolivian president harshly criticized the claims of an alleged self-coup as unfounded and frivolous, saying they come from sectors that seek to undermine democracy in Bolivia. He also said that criticism of his government has been fueled by former military officers and civilians linked to previous political events, highlighting the deep divisions within Bolivian society.
For his part, the former military chief who led the failed self-coup in Bolivia, General Juan José Zúñiga, said that “at some point the truth will be known,” while being transferred to a high-security prison on the outskirts of La Paz.
Coup or self-coup?
Bolivia was rocked by what the government portrayed as an attempted coup, when approximately 200 members of the military, accompanied by armoured vehicles, headed towards the presidential palace. The military mobilisation unleashed a brief but intense political chaos that ended with the dismissal of the military leadership and the arrest of 21 people involved in the events. To many, this quick and efficient outcome looks more like a controlled operation than a genuine coup.
Hours after the incident, former President Morales, in his Sunday program on Radio Kausachun Coca, accused Arce of orchestrating a “self-coup” in order to gain political support among the electorate, amid internal disputes within the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) in view of the upcoming elections.
Morales said that Arce “disrespected the truth, he deceived us, he lied, not only to the Bolivian people but to the entire world.” These statements were added to the criticism of other regional leaders, such as Argentine President Javier Milei, who repudiated the accusation of a coup d’état issued by the Bolivian government, calling it false.
The accusation of the former Bolivian president exacerbated political tensions in the country, where internal disputes within the MAS between Morales and Arce, both prominent figures in the party, are intensifying ahead of the 2025 elections. Political analysts suggest that these events could mark the beginning of an electoral campaign marked by an alleged internal division and the fight for control of the party.