LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian President Luis Arce said Friday that a former general is planning to “take over” the government and become president. In the failed coupHe denied that the Andean country was suffering from an economic crisis.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the embattled leader again denied that Wednesday’s attack on the government palace was a “self-coup” aimed at scoring political points.
“I didn’t run away,” Arce said. “I stayed to defend democracy.”
Ars washed his hands of Allegations of relatives of the 21 people arrested by the government They are innocent of the coup attempt and have been deceived before Former gen. Juan Jose Zuniga.
“It’s the problem of those who were involved, not the government’s problem,” Arce told The Associated Press.
Arce also said his government had been subjected to a “political attack” by his former ally-turned-rival, former President Evo Morales, saying: The internal conflict disrupted legislative activities and hampered his government. Facing economic problems.
Despite this, he said Bolivia’s economy is growing and his administration is working to “diversify” its means of production and invest in things like lithium and manufacturing. Bolivia has the world’s largest reserves of lithium — a mineral known as “white gold” and seen as essential to the green transition — that have largely been untapped, partly due to government policy.
Ars The government said it had “taken measures” to address intermittent shortages of gasoline, dollars and other obstacles hampering the South American nation’s economy.
“Bolivia has an economy that is growing, and an economy that is in crisis is not growing,” he said.
He said it was “completely normal” for Bolivians to run to stock up on food in supermarkets and run to ATMs upon seeing a coup emerging in the capital, instead of heeding his call to take to the streets in support of the government.
He said Bolivians were traumatized by the political unrest in 2019 that led Morales to resign as president and flee and also left 37 people dead.
“When there is a political situation, or this rupture, or a coup, people will of course be afraid that there will be no food… so they will go to get money to buy stocks,” Arce said.
He added that the government was investigating whether the attack was organized by the country’s political opposition. The same day, Arce’s government minister, Eduardo del Castillo, said the government had claimed that there were “snipers who did not arrive in time to Murillo Square” where the coup took place.
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Associated Press reporter Paola Flores in La Paz contributed to this report.
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