Bolivia’s leader said the general accused of leading a failed coup wanted to “take over” the office of president

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 a 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 gaining political points for himself.

“I didn’t run away. I stayed to defend democracy,” Arce said.

Arcee washed his hands off Allegations of relatives of 21 people arrested by the government They are innocent of the coup attempt and were deceived. Former gen. Juan Jose Zuniga.

“It’s the problem of those involved, not the government’s problem,” Arce told the AP.

Arce also said his government had been “politically attacked” by his former ally-turned-rival, former President Evo Morales, saying Infighting has hampered 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” 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 considered essential in the green transition – that are largely untapped, partly due to government policy.

Arcy He said the government had “taken action” to address intermittent shortages of gasoline, dollars and other hurdles plaguing the South American nation’s economy.

“Bolivia has an economy that is growing. An economy in crisis is not growing,” he said.

He said it was “perfectly normal” for Bolivians to rush to stock up on food in supermarkets and rush to ATMs at the sight of an emerging coup in the capital, rather than heed his call to take to the streets to support the government.

He said Bolivians were psychologically traumatized by the political unrest in 2019 that prompted Morales to resign as president and flee and also left 37 people dead.

“Wherever there is a political situation, or a coup, it is natural that people will be afraid that there will be no food… so they will go to get money to store it,” 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 cabinet 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 Paula Flores in La Paz contributed to this report.