Bolivian President Luis Arce raises a clenched fist, with Vice-President David Choquehuanca, as they are surrounded by supporters and media in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Bolivian President Luis Arce on Thursday angrily called accusations that he was behind an attempted coup against his government"lies," saying the general who apparently led it acted on his own and vowing that he would face justice.
Meanwhile, Arce's supporters rallied outside the presidential palace on Thursday, giving some political breathing room to the embattled leader as authorities made more arrests in a failed coup that shook the economically troubled country. The South American nation of 12 million watched in shock and bewilderment Wednesday as military forces appeared to turn on Arce, seizing control of the capital's main square with armored vehicles, repeatedly crashing a small tank into the presidential palace and unleashing tear gas on protesters.
Soldiers block the street in front of the presidential palace, right, and the Legislative Assembly, left, in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The short-lived mutiny followed months of mounting tensions between Arce and Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president. Morales has staged a dramatic political comeback since mass protests and a deadly crackdown prompted him to resign and flee in 2019 -- a military-backed ouster that his supporters decry as a coup.
Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo told reporters that Zuniga's coup attempt had its roots in a private meeting Tuesday in which Arce sacked over the army chief's threats on national TV to arrest Morales if he proceeded to join the 2025 race."He admitted that he had committed some excesses," he said of Zuniga."We said goodbye in the most friendly way, with hugs. Zuniga said that he would always be at the side of the president.
Did Karen Read kill her police officer boyfriend by slamming into him with her Lexus and then leaving him to die in a brewing snowstorm after a night out drinking?U.S. House Republicans advanced a resolution Thursday that would hold President Joe Biden's ghostwriter in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over records related to the special counsel investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents.
Competitive eater Joey 'Jaws' Chestnut will take his hot dog-downing talents to an army base in Texas for America's Independence Day this year after a falling out with organizers of the event that made him famous, the annual 4th of July eating contest in Brooklyn's Coney Island.