Military Coup Attempt
GENERAL ATTACKS PRESIDENT
Transcript
00:00We begin with breaking news from Bolivia, where a military coup appears to be underway.
00:06Local media showing footage of a military vehicle ramming the presidential palace.
00:11You see that right there happening just moments ago.
00:16Soldiers have reportedly taken over the government headquarters in the capital,
00:20La Paz, and President Luis Arce has denounced what he is calling the irregular movements of the army.
00:28He's called for democracy in the South American country to be respected. Now,
00:33his predecessor, former president Evo Morales, also denouncing the actions and calling for
00:40resistance. Maria Nela Plata, the minister of the presidency,
00:47sent out a video from her office in the presidential palace. Take a look.
00:51I want to report an attempted coup d'etat in Bolivia, before the Bolivian people and the
01:01international community. I am at the presidential palace. I am Mariana de la Prada, the minister
01:08of the presidency. As we can see, here is the Murillo Square, seized by military tanks and
01:14troops. We understand this is one army faction only. All the people in the square have been
01:22evacuated, and soldiers are not letting anyone in. This is a completely irregular situation.
01:34As you can see, they have taken over the four corners and set up military controls.
01:41Troops are inside and we also see troops in front of the presidential palace.
01:53That is what is happening here right now. It is the 26th of June. Local time is 15.23.
02:03I repeat, Murillo Square has been taken over by the army.
02:11That is what we are seeing right now, happening within the last hour or so.
02:17I want to go now to journalist Madeline Aguilar from the Bolivian city of La Paz.
02:23Madeline, just bring us up to date. Tell us what you know. Tell us what is happening in Bolivia.
02:30Okay, thank you. Yes, we have a situation in Bolivia.
02:34Everything started two days ago when the general commander of the army was,
02:44after giving a declaration about Evo Morales saying that he cannot be president anymore,
02:51he was left in the way of his position in the military army. Right after that,
03:02a day after yesterday, even though he was already expired,
03:07he still was in charge of the military services. So today, following his order,
03:17all the military forces went to the principal square, Murillo Square, and this was recorded as
03:24an unusual movement of the military services of Bolivia. So even the minister of government
03:34tried to understand what was happening. Then this person, Sunita, the ex-general commander,
03:42went out of one of these vehicles and had a meeting with the president of Bolivia, Luis
03:49Arce. They had a meeting, and it seems like the Sunita, this Sunita military person,
03:58wouldn't follow the order of moving these people out of the square. They were not following the
04:06president. Madeline, we're getting reports that on live television there in Bolivia,
04:12it was shown that the president in the presidential palace, in a hallway,
04:18met the general commander of the army, and they stood face-to-face. The president ordered
04:24the general commander to have his troops to go back to their barracks and to leave the city.
04:30Can you confirm that? Okay, so that happened, and the general commander of the army
04:36refused to follow the orders of the president.
04:40Yes, that is exactly what happened. The president told the general commander,
04:44move these people. I am ordering you to do that, and he just stood there. So the president actually
04:52asked, are you not going to follow my order? And he said, no. So angrily, the president just
05:01went back. But after a while, they actually moved from the principal square, but the military is
05:09still in that square. So it seemed like it was a confrontation between the president and the
05:16general commander. But Madeline, explain for people around the world who are just tuning in,
05:23people have no idea what's going on inside Bolivia. Is this something unexpected? I mean,
05:28are you surprised? I mean, what has been happening that would bring the country to the brink?
05:36Well, we are living an economic crisis. We don't have gasoline, there are no dollars,
05:44and the prices are going up. So it's an economic crisis, and people are scared. For example,
05:53it was announced that there would be a blocking of the principal woods in the whole country
06:00today. But yesterday, they finally got to a conclusion, so it wouldn't be a problem today.
06:07However, people were scared already. But we weren't expecting something like that. We weren't
06:15expecting a military movement. So yes, we are in crisis, but we weren't expecting this kind of
06:22event. Yeah, yeah. I mean, certainly a shock and the images that we're getting there.
06:29We wish you and everyone there in La Paz all the best, and please stay safe. Journalist
06:35Madeline Aguilar reporting on what appears to be a coup attempt in Bolivia. Madeline, thank you.
06:42Yes, it hasn't been confirmed, but it seems like it was. Okay, thank you.
06:52Thank you.