A top general and allied members of the military tried to storm the presidential palace in Bolivia on Wednesday, before quickly retreating in an apparently failed attempt at a coup.

Hours later, the general was taken into custody on live TV.

Video on Bolivian television showed security forces in riot gear occupying the main square in the administrative capital, La Paz, a camouflaged military vehicle ramming a palace door and soldiers trying to make their way into the building.

Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, the general, Juan José Zuñiga disappeared, and his supporters in the armed forces pulled back and were replaced by police officers supporting the country’s democratically elected President, Luis Arce.

Arce ventured onto the plaza after calling on Bolivians “to organise and mobilise against the coup and in favour of democracy”. “Long live the Bolivian people!” he shouted in a televised address. “Long live democracy!”

In all, the attempted afternoon incursion into the palace lasted just three hours. As time wore on, it became clear that Zuñiga’s plan had little support. Just before his arrest, Zuñiga claimed, without providing evidence, that Arce had asked him to stage the coup attempt.

New York Times News Service