Laura Gamba
June 28, 2024•Update: June 28, 2024
BOGOTA, Colombia
Four more arrests were made in Bolivia following Wednesday's attempted coup against President Luis Arce.
As many as 17 people, including active and retired military personnel and civilians, were arrested on Thursday.
There are "a total of 21 people arrested in the case called a failed coup d'état," Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo told a press conference.
Del Castillo said Gen. Marcelo Zegarra, former head of the air force, is one of the new detainees.
The government says it was Gen. Juan Jose Zuniga, former head of the army, arrested on Wednesday, who was in charge of the operation, but the three deposed commanders of the army, navy and air force were also involved in the siege.
"Juan Jose Zuniga did not work alone, there are 21 people and these soldiers did not work unilaterally," said the minister.
Prosecutors filed charges against Zuniga and others for the crimes of terrorism and armed uprising against the security and sovereignty of the state. Those arrested could be sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison for the “attack on the Bolivian democracy and the Constitution.”
During the military rebellion, 14 civilians were injured with pellets fired by soldiers when they entered the Murillo Square where the presidential palace is located in the capital La Paz.
Arce rejected Gen. Zuniga's accusations, who said it was the president who ordered him to carry out a self-coup to help him increase his popularity.
“He acted on his own,” Arce said on Thursday at a press conference. “We were never informed about what he intended, much less about the mobilizations that he carried out. We were surprised.”
