For the opposition, it was a “staged show” and a “burlesque” act

According to experts, lawyers and opposition authorities, Wednesday’s failed coup d’état at the presidential headquarters in La Paz, Bolivia, was a “show put on” by a Government overwhelmed by the crisis, weakened, without institutionality or credibility, according to local media this Thursday.

Meanwhile, General Juan José Zúñiga, who led the military actions that were quickly frustrated and ended up being detained, was arrested for logistical reasons, preventing the coup from taking place.

Zúñiga, who – according to the Bolivian Minister of Justice Iván Lima –faces up to 20 years in prison, said in his police statement that “the reason why the objectives of the uprising were not achieved” was because “the Viacha units they took a while to arrivealso Navy and Air Force personnel they couldn’t get there“.

The statement, only part of the extensive police interview, was read by the Minister of the Presidency, María Nela Prada, as proof that Zúñiga did want to carry out a coup d’état.

“What happened today (Wednesday) has happened, and we say it firmly and fully before the Bolivian people and before the international community that what we have experienced today has been an attempted coup, a failed coup,” Prada remarked.

A group of soldiers, led by the dismissed commander Zúñiga, moved to the center of La Paz and entered the Government headquarters, the Quemado Palace, in what President Arce described as an attempted “coup d’état.”

At around three in the afternoon, an unusual display of military forces aboard a dozen armored tanks gathered in the vicinity of Plaza Murillo, led by the former General Commander of the Army, Juan José Zúñiga. After entering the Quemado Palace by force, Zúñiga argued that his intention was restore democracy and release political prisoners.

Images were released showing Zúñiga arguing with the head of state, Luis Arce, where the military officer disobeyed orders to withdraw personnel, which ended up happening around 5:00 p.m. Later, Arce possessed to a new military High Command almost immediately. The former military chief and other uniformed officers were arrested after 7:00 p.m. and the Prosecutor’s Office began investigations against them for the crimes of terrorism and armed uprising against State security.

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Coup in Bolivia: this was the face to face between President Luis Arce and the coup leader General Zúñiga

Zúñiga told reporters that President Arce had ordered him to organize an uprising, to provoke a repression that would make him look strong and increase his dwindling approval rating.

According to the dismissed general, in a meeting on Sunday he asked Arce: “So do we take out the armored vehicles?” and the president responded: “take them out.” Arce’s instructions were to “organize something to increase his popularity,” Zúñiga said.

The opposition to Arce does not support the version of the coup d’état.

Sectors of the Bolivian opposition, including some aligned with former president Evo Morales, who was in conflict with the current president Luis Arce, suggest that the failed coup d’état carried out by Zúñiga It was actually a “self-coup,” as the soldier himself stated.

“The Government put together a burlesque show with bad actors” said analyst Gustavo Pedraza, to a TV channel when referring to the military actions, according to what Diario.net reported this Thursday.

This was joined by the senator for Comunidad Ciudadana, Andrea Barrientos, who in statements to the media said from Cochabamba, that these events were “burlesque shows” and demanded that the government of President Luis Arce provide answers to the crisis that the country is going through.

“First of all, we believe that democracy must be cautious about anything, but what has happened is a farcical show. We demand an investigation, clarifications from the national government and we demand that it provide answers to the crises. We no longer want shows or set-ups,” he emphasized.

He recalled that in the country “there is no gasoline, products are scarce, the dollar is rising and the crisis is getting worse (…) and instead of providing solutions put on shows of this type that give a lot to think about”.

In relation to the statements that Zúñiga gave, Barrientos said that “we are all convinced that “There is a black hand involved here.”

For the lawyer Jorge Valda, the political scientist Franklin Pareja and the journalist Andrés Gómez eThis was a theater and a show put together by the power elite, with the aim of generating chaos, lack of control and uncertainty in the population in the midst of a deep social and economic crisis.

For Pareja, the events that occurred do not fit with those of a coup d’état, but rather seem the execution of a “Cuban-Nicaraguan-Venezuelan libretto” with the objective of generating internal cohesion in the Government and recovering certain validation and support from both the social sectors (Csutcb and COB) and international support, for example, from the Organization of American States.

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After Luis Arce swore in the new military leadership, the military withdrew from Plaza Murillo.

Valda agrees: “It was not an attempted coup, it was a smokescreen. What is coming after this government, with corruption, drug trafficking, smuggling, illegal mining, indebtedness, plundering of resources, is much more serious than we Bolivians imagine.”

In contact with El Diario, the jurist opined that Arce must be investigated because he shares responsibility for what happened, a fact that caused speculation and anxiety in the population. He also regretted that the military has been “humiliated” and “used as a herd” by those who dare to take power by force.

The opposition deputy of the Citizen Community (CC), Alejandro Reyes, followed the same line: there are “indications” of a setup and possible self-coup, in order to “rebuild a dying government.”

With information from local media