Bolivian President Luis Arce has explained that he called “comrade Evo Morales” to warn him of the “coup attempt” which was headed on Wednesday by the dismissed military chief Juan José Zuñiga, and added that despite their differences they remain “comrades.” “We can have our differences (…) I contacted him to take care of him,” said Arce.

The Bolivian president described in a press conference at the Casa Grande del Pueblo, headquarters of the Executive, in the city of La Paz, how he and his cabinet experienced the “attempted coup d’état” led by ZuñigaArce said that when he understood that Zuñiga and other military officers wanted to take “command of the country” he decided to call Morales.

“It was a very short communication, we had to organize ourselves,” said the Bolivian president, who repeated that despite the differences he called him as a colleague because “that is what we are,” so that he could protect himself, he said.

Zuñiga, along with a group of armed and hooded soldiers, knocked down the door of Arce’s government headquarters on Wednesday afternoon. During the action, the dismissed military chief said that His intention was to “change the government cabinet” and “restore” democracy in the Andean country.

After several hours of tension, Zuñiga retreated with his followers. He was later captured by the police along with 16 other soldiers and is now accused of an “attempted coup d’état.”

Luis Arce said that the main difference between him and former President Evo Morales (2006-2019) is the way they view the ruling party Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS). “The organization belongs to the social instrument and not to a person,” said Arce.

Arce and Morales have been estranged since late 2021 and their differences deepened last year due to the holding of a national party congress in which, in the absence of the president and his loyal sectors, the former president was ratified as leader of the MAS and named “sole candidate” for the 2025 elections.

The president did not attend the meeting considering that the social organizations, the basis of the party, were not well represented.

In recent months, Morales has called Arce “the worst president in the country’s history,” while the president called Morales “his main opponent.”