LA PAZ (Reuters) – About a dozen Bolivian military officers have been arrested following Wednesday’s attempted coup, a senior government minister told local television on Thursday, adding they face accusations that could lead to 15 to 30-year prison terms.
The hours-long failed coup saw the Andean nation’s sacked military commander gather troops in La Paz’s main square, ramming a door of the presidential palace with an armored vehicle that allowed soldiers to rush into the building.
The soldiers ultimately withdrew and police took back control of the plaza, with President Luis Arce slamming the coup attempt and swiftly naming a new top general.
The former commander, Juan Jose Zuniga, had been told on Tuesday evening that he would be stripped of his position as his conduct “was not in line with the Constitution,” Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo said in an interview with TV station Unitel.
Zuniga reacted calmly to the news, according to del Castillo.
“But no one could have imagined that the next day, before the official handover in posts, there would be a failed coup in our country,” he said.
(Reporting by Monica Machicao; Editing by Kylie Madry and David Alire Garcia)
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