Bolivia’s president denied being behind the attempted coup and said the generals had acted “on their own initiative.”

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian President Luis Arce on Thursday denied he was behind the attempted coup, said the generals believed to have led the coup “acted alone” and slammed accusations that he called for the uprising to bolster his own popularity.

Speaking at his first press conference since the attempted coup, President Arce called the allegation that he had staged a coup a “lie” and added, “I am not a politician who seeks to gain popularity by shedding the blood of the people.”

Arce said hours later that the government had announced that a total of 17 people had been arrested for allegedly being involved in the government’s seizure attempt, including army commander Gen. Juan José Zúñiga and former Navy Vice Admiral Juan Arnes Salvador, who were detained the previous day.

The president claimed the plot involved not only military personnel but also veterans and civilians, but did not provide details.

Zuniga will be investigated and “brought to justice,” he added.

Some of his supporters rallied outside the presidential palace on Thursday morning, giving the embattled leader some political breathing space as authorities make further arrests in the failed coup attempt. Economically challenged countries A day early.

The South American country of 12 million people watched in shock and confusion on Wednesday as army troops rose up against the government of President Luis Arce, taking control of the capital’s central square in armored vehicles, repeatedly ramming the presidential palace with small tanks and spraying tear gas at protesters.

Cabinet secretary Eduardo del Castillo did not elaborate on the names of the other 15 people arrested but identified civilian Anibal Aguilar Gomez as the main “ideologue” of the thwarted coup. He said the suspected conspirators began planning in May.

As riot police guarded the palace doors and President Arce, struggling with foreign currency and fuel shortages, appeared on the presidential balcony, supporters poured into the streets, singing the national anthem and cheering as fireworks erupted overhead. “No one can take away our democracy,” Arce cried.

Bolivians responded by chanting, “Lucho, you are not alone!” – Lucho is a common nickname for Luis and is also a Spanish verb meaning “to fight.”

Analysts say the surge in public support for President Arce has given him some respite, even if it is temporary, from the country’s economic quagmire and political turmoil. The conflict with popular former President Evo Morales is deepening.He is a former ally who has threatened to challenge President Arce in 2025.

“The president is running his government very badly, he has no dollars, he has no gas,” said Paul Coca, a political analyst in La Paz. “Yesterday’s military action will improve his image a little, but

Before his arrest late Wednesday, Zúñiga claimed without evidence that President Arce had ordered the generals to carry out the coup attempt in a ploy to boost his own popularity, stoking speculation about what actually happened. Opposition senators and government critics joined in, calling the putsch a “self-made coup,” a claim strongly denied by Arce’s government.

“What we have seen is highly unusual for a coup in Latin America and it is alarming,” said Diego Font Bacanã, an expert on Bolivian politics at Texas A&M University and a former informal adviser to President Arce. “Yesterday Arce looked like a victim, today he looks like a hero defending democracy.”

Some Bolivians say they believe Zúñiga’s claims.

“They are playing with the people’s intelligence because no one believes it’s a real coup,” said Evaristo Mamani, a 48-year-old lawyer.

Lawmakers and former government officials, especially those allied with Mr. Morales, echoed that suspicion. “It was a trap,” said Carlos Romero, a former senior official in the Morales administration. “Mr. Zúñiga followed the script, doing what he was told.”

Shortly after the military exercise began, it became clear that the attempted seizure had no meaningful political support. The revolt ended bloodlessly at the end of the day’s business day. In stunning scenes, Arce argued violently with Zúñiga and his allies in the square outside the palace before returning to the palace to appoint a new military commander.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management Rich Verma criticized Zuniga in Paraguay on Thursday, saying “democracy remains fragile in our Western Hemisphere.”

The short-lived revolt came after months of rising tensions between Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, and Arce, who made a dramatic return to politics after resigning and going into hiding following mass protests and a deadly crackdown in 2019. His military-backed ouster has been denounced by his supporters as a coup.

Morales has vowed to run against Arce in 2025, a prospect that has unsettled the president, whose popularity has plummeted due to the country’s dwindling foreign-currency reserves, a sharp drop in natural-gas exports and the collapse of the currency’s peg to the U.S. dollar.

Mr Morales’ allies in Congress are making it nearly impossible for Mr Arce to govern, and a cash crunch is putting him under increasing pressure to end food and fuel subsidies that are draining the state’s coffers.

Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo told reporters that Zuniga’s coup attempt had its roots in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday in which President Arce fired Zuniga after the army commander threatened on state television that Morales would be arrested if he ran for president in 2025.

But Zuniga gave no indication to authorities that he was preparing to seize power, Novillo said.

“He admitted that he had gone too far,” he said of Zuniga. “We hugged and said goodbye in a very friendly way. Zuniga said he would always be by the president’s side.”

Hours later, panic descended on the capital, La Paz, as Zúñiga, surrounded by armored vehicles and supporters, stormed government headquarters, sending Bolivians into a frenzy: crowds swarmed ATMs, queued outside gas stations and ransacked grocery stores.

The country’s divided opposition rejected the coup even before it was clear it had failed. Former interim president Jeanine Áñez said: Detained for involvement in ousting President Morales in 2019said soldiers were trying to “undermine the constitutional order” but urged both Arce and Morales not to run in the 2025 elections.

In a speech after the palace stormed, President Zuniga called for the release of Áñez and political prisoners, including Luis Fernando Camacho, the powerful governor of Santa Cruz state, who has been held on suspicion of plotting a 2019 coup.

Before his arrest, Zúñiga told reporters that President Arce had given him direct orders to storm the palace and bring armored vehicles into downtown La Paz.

“The president told me: ‘The situation is very bad, very critical. I need to prepare something to increase my popularity,'” Zúñiga claimed.

Even if proven false, the allegations of Mr Arce’s involvement are disruptive and risk causing further unrest.

“Was this a media show engineered by the government itself as General Zuniga says? Was it just military madness? Was it simply another example of a lack of discipline?” Camacho wrote on social media platform X.

Bolivian authorities claim the general lied to justify his actions, and prosecutors have said they will seek the maximum sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison for Zuniga on charges of “attacking the constitution”, pending further investigation.

But pro-democracy advocates have already expressed doubts about whether the government-led investigation can be trusted.

“Judicial independence is essentially nonexistent and judicial credibility is at rock bottom,” said Juan Papier, deputy Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “We don’t know today what happened, and we may never know.”

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Debre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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