Last week, a significant political crisis unfolded in Bolivia after soldiers led by Army Commander General Juan José Zúñiga engulfed the Bolivian government palace using armored vehicles, calling to “restore democracy and free political prisoners.”
The attempted coup lasted only a few hours with leftist President Luis Arce quickly installing a new brass who called off the troops. However, the authenticity of the coup has come into question, with former president and Arce’s onetime mentor Evo Morales claiming it was staged in a bid to strengthen Arce’s position, “Lucho lied and deceived the Bolivian people and the entire world with this kind of coup or self coup,” Morales said in a speech on Sunday, referring to Arce by his nickname.
Arce has rubbished these claims and insists the coup was a genuine attempt to stop his 3-year reign by foreign interests eyeing Bolivia’s lithium wealth, echoing Morales’ earlier claims that previous unrest was triggered by U.S. interest in Bolivia’s lithium sector.
“These interests seek our natural resources. Bolivia is the main world reserve of lithium, it also has rare earths that are what the planet needs today,” he said in a recent interview with Spanish newspaper El País.
For the rest of this article: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Bolivian-President-Alleges-Failed-Coup-Attempt-All-About-Lithium.html