Saturday 29th June, 2024

Bolivia, on Wednesday, was shaken by what looked like the onset of a military coup. A large number of soldiers rushed in armoured vehicles and stormed the Murillo Square in the capital, La Paz, where key government institutions are located. Acting under the command of the head of the armed forces General Juan José Zúñiga, they attempted to force themselves into the President’s House by smashing down a wall. In a dramatic turn of events, the beleaguered President Louis Arce put up resistance intrepidly much to the surprise of everyone. He went on to appoint a new military commander, and the police arrested Zúñiga. Order was restored in about three hours.

Bolivia is no stranger to military coups and has its share of generals with political ambitions. In 2019, the military stepped in to oust President Evo Morales following a disputed election outcome, paving the way for the appointment of an interim President. Arce became the President in 2020. Morales, who came to power in 2006, riding on a wave of popularity, endeared himself to the Bolivian public by undertaking to share in their suffering. He and his ministers took pay cuts and their approval rating shot up. But after being ensconced in power, Morales failed to live up to people’s expectations and had to leave amidst public protests.

Interestingly, General Zúñiga told reporters, on Wednesday, that he had staged the ‘coup’ at the behest of President Arce himself! The incident has since come to be known as a ‘self-coup’ in some quarters. Whether the General’s claim is true or false, one may not know, but the manner in which the ‘coup’ unfolded and ended, and the sangfroid of President Arce and his Cabinet have given rise to doubts and suspicions in the minds of Bolivians as well as others.

Some political commentators are of the view that Zúñiga has told the truth. They point out that President Arce is troubled by the prospect of having to face a popular uprising soon. His popularity is on the wane due to his government’s inability to manage the floundering economy, which is reeling from a biting foreign exchange crisis caused by a drastic drop in gas exports. Wednesday’s ‘coup’ unified all those across the political spectrum, in Bolivia, including former President Morales, a bitter critic of the incumbent government; it has enabled Arce to rally public support, and shore up his image. Zúñiga has also alleged Morales is planning to run for President despite a constitutionally-stipulated term limit and the latter has to be stopped.

Bolivia and other democratic nations heaved a sigh of relief on Wednesday when the ‘coup’ came to an end, but socio-economic factors that have the potential to trigger an uprising and creating conditions for a real military intervention in the form of another coup remain in the Andean state, where public resentment is said to be palpable. Trouble is therefore far from over. Wednesday’s incident may be considered a foretaste of what is to come.

Ambitious generals usually capitalise on public resentment and economic crises to project themselves as saviours and grab state power, as has been the experience of many countries in Latin America. They also do so at the instigation of foreign powers, the bloody overthrow of Salvador Allende’s democratically-elected, progressive government in Chile, one of Bolivia’s neighbours, in 1973, being a case in point. The Bolivian Opposition and human rights groups have expressed fear that President Arce will use Wednesday’s incident to launch a campaign to suppress the Opposition. Arrests continue to be made, according to international media reports.

All’s well that ends well, but it is hoped that the apparent coup in Bolivia will serve as a warning to all other nations which are facing similar political, social and economic problems, and that their leaders will refrain from provoking the public into staging uprisings and providing ambitious generals with opportunities to make forays into politics. The problem with political power is it is highly addictive like narcotics, and one who saviours it does not want to let go of it.