La Paz, Bolivia– Bolivian President Luis Arce said Friday that a former general planned to “take over” the government and become president. in a failed coupand denied that the Andean nation is in an economic crisis.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the embattled leader once again denied that Wednesday’s attack on the government palace was a “self-coup” designed to score him political points.
“I didn’t escape, I stayed to defend democracy,” Arce said.
Arce said his government has been “politically attacked” by his former ally-turned-rival Evo Morales, who has left his government paralyzed by confronting the country’s turmoil with a “legislative boycott,” part of their ongoing political dispute.
Despite this, he said that the country’s economy is growing and that his government is working to “diversify” the means of production, investing in things like lithium and industrializing. Bolivia has the largest reserves of lithium – a metal known as “white gold” and considered essential in the green transition – in the world that has remained largely untapped, in part due to government policy.
He said the government “has taken steps” to address intermittent shortages of gasoline and dollars, and other obstacles plaguing the South American nation’s economy.
“Bolivia has an economy that is growing, an economy in crisis does not grow,” he stated.
Arce washed his hands of the claims of relatives of the 21 detained by the government that they were innocent of the attempted coup d’état, and that they were deceived by former military general Juan José Zúñiga.
“It is a problem of those who were involved, it is not a problem of the government,” Arce told the AP.
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