Bolivia president finds new strength after coup attempt

STORY: Bolivian leftist President Luis Arce says support on the streets has strengthened his government after a failed military coup just days ago.

The quiet economist was thrust into the global spotlight on Wednesday (June 26) when rogue military units seized the central square of La Paz and rammed a door of the presidential palace with an armored vehicle.

The general who led the coup, Juan Jose Zuniga, was ordered to six months "preventive detention" for his role, a top prosecutor said on Friday (June 28).

Arce had warned that the landlocked country of some 12 million people was facing a coup and called for supporters to mobilize.

Face-to-face he ordered Zuniga to stand down, and hours later, as support for the coup disintegrated, the soldiers pulled back.

Arce spoke exclusively to Reuters in one of his first interviews since then.

“The last thing we were thinking about was not how we will be, but rather the most important thing being to defend democracy, and happily with the support of the people in the streets and with the international support that we have received. That has strengthened us to be here again, to continue the work that as president is my responsibility to undertake. So for us, absolutely nothing has changed.”

Arce acknowledged financial strains on the gas-producing Bolivian economy, which has led to a shortage of dollars, petrol at the pumps and growing voter dissatisfaction.

But he blamed "external and internal interests" for adding to the country's economic pressures.

"There is temporary illiquidity of American dollars, that is why we have taken several measures that will precisely resolve the issue. Of course we have said it, we have been taking several measures to solve all the problems that are being placed in our path."

Zuniga has been handed a terrorism charge, which carries 15-20 years in prison, as well as a charge for an armed uprising.