Earlier this week, Juan Jose Zuniga Macias, a top Army Commander of Bolivia, launched a series of political attacks against former President Evo Morales after the latter declared his intention to challenge incumbent President Luis Arce in 2025. The next thing we know is that Zuniga has been arrested after an attempted coup under his leadership failed in La Paz.
According to media reports, Zuniga declared that he would not permit the Constitution to "be trampled." Who is the military leader who has been arrested after his effort to overthrow the left-leaning Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) government of Bolivia failed? Here are five things to know about Juan Jose Zuniga, who now risks being locked up for two decades as a consequence of his actions.
1. It was in November 2022 that President Luis Arce appointed Juan Jose Zuniga Macias as the General Commander of the Bolivian Army. Interestingly, Bolivia witnessed top military brass undergoing a shuffle but the government let Jose Zuniga keep his position.
2. General Jose Zuniga Macias is a career military officer who had held high ranks including Brigadier General and Chief of the General Staff in the Bolivian Army. However, he was best known for intelligence skills, TIME reported quoting local news sites.
3. Jose Zuniga was close to Bolivia's civil groups, earning the reputation of “the people’s General.” This was because of his ties with trade unions and social movements, reports said.
READ HERE | Bolivia: How a coup attempt to overthrow President Luis Arce failed
4. However, the Army officer's career was not clean. He was allegedly involved in drug trafficking and even served a week in prison in 2013 for misappropriating about $400,000 while heading an infantry regiment, the TIME report said.
5. Commander Jose Zuniga was accused of creating divisions within the Bolivian Army. His divisional activities were first called out by the country's President Evo Morales in 2022. The officer was the heading “Pachajchos,” a secret but powerful group within the army, Morales claimed. Pachajchos kept a close eye on the activities of Bolivia's political leadership and coca production, allegations that Zuniga later declined while admitting the existence of the unofficial group within the Army ranks. According to him, Pachajchos existed for intelligence-related duties and it was not just high-ranking officials of the force that were admitted to it.
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