Bolivia’s president calls claims he was behind attempted coup ‘lies’
- Rebel general alleged Bolivia’s president had asked him to do something to boost his popularity
Bolivian President Luis Arce angrily called accusations that he was behind an attempted coup against his government “lies”, saying the general who apparently led it acted on his own and vowing that he would face justice.
Arce’s comments on Thursday, his first to the press since Wednesday’s failed apparent coup, came after the general involved, Juan Jose Zuniga, alleged without providing evidence that the president had ordered him to carry out the mutiny in a ruse to boost his flagging popularity.
That fuelled speculation about what really happened, even after the government announced the arrest of 17 people, most of them military officers. Opposition senators and government critics joined the chorus of doubters, calling the mutiny a “self-coup”.
Some Bolivians said they believed Zuniga allegations. “They are playing with the intelligence of the people, because nobody believes that it was a real coup,” said 48-year-old lawyer Evaristo Mamani.
Those claims have been strongly denied by Arce and his government. “I am not a politician who is going to win popularity through the blood of the people,” he said Thursday.
