Bolivian president replaces military leaders after soldiers storm palace in potential coup attempt

Armored cars and armed soldiers attacked the presidential palace in Bolivia on Wednesday, in what Bolivian officials warn could be an attempted coup.

Bolivia President Luis Arce confronted the soldiers in the palace, according to the Associated Press, and told the country's then-commander of its Army, Juan José Zúñiga, to surrender. 

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Soldiers stationed outside of Bolivia presidential palace.

Getty Images

“I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination,” Arce said.

Zuniga said his military was going to "recover the mainland," according to the BBC. But also said he recognizes Arce as commander in chief "for now." 

“Surely soon there will be a new Cabinet of ministers; our country, our state cannot go on like this," Zuniga told reporters before entering the palace.

The coup attempt was over just a couple of hours after it began, when Arce named new heads of the Bolivian Army, Navy, and Air Force. New Army commander José Wilson Sánchez ordered the troops to withdraw from the palace, which the troops obeyed.

“I order all that are mobilized to return to their units," Sanchez said, per the AP. “No one wants the images we’re seeing in the streets.”

The country's president previously warned on Wednesday that there were "irregular" troop movements, and encouraged the military to respect the country's democracy.  

Other officials claimed the activities were a coup "in the making," and that it constituted an “attempted coup d’etat.”

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.