Amy units withdraw from Bolivian capital after ‘coup attempt’

President Luis Arce has fired the general who deployed the troops in La Paz

Heavily armed soldiers on armored personnel carriers have pulled out from the central Plaza Murillo square in Bolivia’s capital La Paz after President Luis Arce denounced what he said was a coup attempt against his government.

A group of soldiers led by the commander of the Armed Forces General Juan Jose Zuniga occupied the square on Wednesday and entered the presidential palace. Arce condemned the “irregular mobilization of some units of the Bolivian Army” and dismissed Zuniga, replacing him with Jose Wilson Sanchez.

Sanchez then promptly ordered the troops to leave the square. “All personnel that have been mobilized in the streets must return to their units,” the new commander said in his first speech.

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