‘Fraud’: Javier Milei doubles down on his criticism and insists that the coup attempt in Bolivia was false

He Argentine President Javier Milei on Tuesday doubled down on his criticism of the Bolivian government and described the attempted coup in La Paz as a “staged fraud.” while once again criticizing the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva.

“Fraud in Bolivia is known And the perfect idiot, instead of accepting his mistake, criticizes me for exposing his stupidity,” wrote the Argentine president on the X network without clearly mentioning who he was calling the “perfect idiot.”

In his message he also criticised Lula, saying that “he has been imprisoned for corruption and is a communist.”

The Milei government, which maintains tense relations with the leftist governments of the region, distanced itself from the international support received by Luis Arce in the face of the military uprising of the former commanders of the Armed Forces, led by General Juan José Zúñiga, former head of the army.

Zúñiga led the troops that besieged the presidential palace with tanks for several hours last Wednesday, June 26, before retreating.

I thought it was a coup, but now I’m confused: it looks like a self-coup

The general and the other commanders were arrested along with 18 other active and retired military personnel and civilians accused of attempting to overthrow President Arce.

However, The official version began to be questioned after Zúñiga, at the time of his capture, stated that he acted at the request of President Luis Arce to increase his popularity, which was denied by the Bolivian president.

On Sunday Former President Evo Morales also accused Arce, his former ally, of having lied “to the world” with a “self-coup.”

“I thought it was a coup, but now I’m confused: it looks like a self-coup,” Morales said on Sunday in his regular radio program.

The Argentine Government’s statement that generated tension with Bolivia

Tensions between Bolivia and Argentina increased on Sunday after a statement from the Argentine Executive was released in the evening in which Javier Milei’s government considered the accusation of a coup d’état in La Paz to be “false.”

“The Office of the President (Javier Milei) repudiates the false accusation of a coup d’état made by the Bolivian government on Wednesday, June 26 and confirmed as fraudulent today,” the statement said.

The story spread was hardly credible and the arguments did not fit with the socio-political context of the Latin American country.

The Argentine presidency assured that it was based on “intelligence reports” to consider that the failed coup was not such and stated that “the story spread was not very credible and the arguments did not fit with the socio-political context of the Latin American country.”

“Bolivian democracy has been in danger for some time. Not because of a military coup, but because socialist governments historically turn into dictatorships,” the statement added.

He concluded: “Argentina hopes that democracy, which has been under attack for years in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, will prevail and urges the political forces of that country to guarantee the rule of law in its territory.”

Upset by the Argentine government’s statement regarding the failed coup against President Luis Arce, Bolivia has recalled its ambassador in Buenos Aires for consultations.

At once, The Bolivian Foreign Ministry summoned the Argentine ambassador in La Paz to express “its strong rejection” of these statements.which he considered “unfriendly, reckless, uninformed and biased.”

Venezuela also rejected the “repugnant statement by President Milei that he does not recognize the attempted coup in Bolivia,” in a statement published on Monday on the X network.

Milei “seeks to ignore the attempted coup in Bolivia by feeding a narrative created by the Latin American right” “which is trying to whitewash the criminals who tried to overthrow the legitimate president Luis Arce,” the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said.

After the incident, Javier Milei announced that he will not attend the Mercosur summit in Asunción on July 8, which will be attended by Lula and Arce, as well as the Paraguayan president, Santiago Peña, and the Uruguayan president, Luis Lacalle Pou.

However, his spokesman, Manuel Adorni, announced on Monday that Milei will travel to Brazil over the weekend to attend an event where a meeting with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a political adversary of Lula, “is not ruled out.”

Milei will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to be held in Camboriú, Santa Catarina, where Bolsonaro will also be a speaker.