Bolivia coup try: ex-army chief given six months ‘preventive detention’, says prosecutor

A Bolivian former military chief accused of main a failed coup try has been given six months “preventive detention”, a high prosecutor stated on Friday, because the president once more denied the assault was a “self-coup” designed to spice up his flagging recognition.

Common Juan José Zúñiga Macías has been handed expenses of terrorism and armed rebellion, state prosecutor Cesar Siles stated. Zúñiga has stated he was following an order from the president, Luis Arce, following Wednesday’s fleeting rebel in La Paz. Within the moments earlier than he was detained, the ex-army chief claimed: “The president advised me the state of affairs was fucked and that he wanted one thing to spice up his recognition.”.

If Zúñiga is discovered responsible, the terrorism cost might be punished by 15-20 years in jail, and 5 to fifteen years for armed rebellion.

Prosecutor Siles stated the lawyer basic’s workplace had requested the six months detention for Zúñiga and that different authorities our bodies, together with the defence ministry and inside ministry, supported the request “as a result of significance and seriousness of the occasions that occurred”.

“This preventive detention that the decide is ordering will undoubtedly set a precedent and a superb sign in order that this investigation can proceed to advance,” Siles stated.

In an interview with the Related Press, Arce denied as soon as once more that the assault on the federal government palace was a “self-coup”, saying: “I didn’t escape, I stayed to defend democracy.”

Arce claimed on Friday that Zúñiga had meant to take over the federal government and grow to be president after Wednesday’s occasions, wherein closely armed troops stormed the federal government palace in La Paz earlier than beating a retreat.

Wednesday’s transient and nonetheless poorly defined mutiny, which lasted solely about three hours and reportedly noticed 12 folks injured, was the most recent convulsion to grip a notoriously risky nation that has witnessed 190 revolutions and coups because it gained independence in 1825.

Bolivia, a landlocked nation of about 12.5 million residents, is enduring a punishing financial disaster with fuel exports plummeting and social unrest on the rise. To make issues worse, a bitter energy wrestle is enjoying out between Arce and Evo Morales, the previous president who helped elect him in 2020. Each males have stated they plan to hunt the presidency in subsequent 12 months’s election for his or her occasion, the Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas).

In his AP interview, Arce denied the Andean nation was experiencing an financial disaster, whereas additionally saying the infighting with Morales had snarled legislative actions and hamstrung his authorities’s efforts to confront financial issues.

Arce stated the federal government “has taken motion” to deal with intermittent gasoline and greenback shortages and different hurdles ailing the South American nation’s financial system.

“Bolivia has an financial system that’s rising. An financial system in disaster doesn’t develop,” he stated.

Arce stated his administration was working to “diversify” means of manufacturing, investing in issues equivalent to lithium and industrialisation. Bolivia has the biggest reserves of lithium on the planet, which have gone largely untapped, partly on account of authorities coverage.

With Related Press and Reuters