LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — The man behind the attempted coup that has rocked Bolivia remains a mystery to much of the country.
Little known before bursting into Bolivia's presidential palace tailed by tanks and armored vehicles , Juan José Zúñiga served as commander general of the country's armed forces from 2022 until his dramatic sacking and arrest Wednesday. A career military man, Zúñiga owes his post to the very president whom he sought to oust in his attempted coup.
President Luis Arce handpicked Zúñiga as army chief two years ago, vaulting the undistinguished intelligence official who had scored in the lower categories of his military entrance exams to the army's highest ranks. The abrupt promotion angered fellow officers and puzzled analysts, who interpreted Arce's move as a reward for the general's loyalty.
Even as Arce reshuffled other top military positions, most recently in January, Zúñiga remained in place.
“Zúñiga was Arce’s man,” said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivia-based research group. “He's no mastermind ... he is rather dull-witted but he’s perceived to be completely loyal to Arce.”
Wednesday was not the first time that Zúñiga has found himself at the center of controversy. In 2013, the general faced a firestorm of allegations that he embezzled the equivalent of nearly $400,000 in army funds earmarked to support children and elderly people. The military sent him to jail for seven days for misusing the money as well as for traveling abroad without permission.
Zúñiga denied wrongdoing, explaining the penalty as the result of an internal military, not criminal, investigation that found he had failed to control his subordinates.
“He's a military man yet with no ability to lead the armed forces,” said retired army officer and security analyst Jorge Santiesteban, describing Zúñiga's appointment as “irregular.”
Despite his faults, Zúñiga is strategic and well-connected, Santiesteban said. Bolivian news outlets reported that he forged close contacts with the country's powerful labor unions. He has cultivated personal ties to President Arce — a recent photo circulating on social media shows the two men as basketball teammates, drenched in sweat and smiling on the court.
His ties to former Bolivian President Evo Morales have been far more fraught. When Arce elevated Zúñiga to army chief, Morales weighed in, dredging up the old allegations of embezzlement and accusing the general of conspiring with other intelligence officials to surveil and “persecute” him and other politicians and activists.
With Morales now back in the national spotlight, vying with Arce for control of Bolivia’s governing party, the leftist icon has revived his condemnations of Zúñiga in recent weeks, saying that the general is out to destroy him.
Zúñiga responded to Morales’ allegations in a TV interview Monday, threatening to arrest Morales if he ran against Arce in the hotly anticipated 2025 elections.
“The military must enforce the constitution,” Zúñiga said, referring to a court order last fall that barred Morales from running for an unconstitutional third term.
Morales' presidential bid has caused an unprecedented rift with Arce, his former ally and economy minister. Like Zúñiga, President Arce has denied the legitimacy of his campaign.
But a long-standing rule prevents Bolivian military officers from intervening in domestic politics, and Zúñiga's threats drew immediate backlash. Morales responded that such comments from a military official “never occurred in a democracy.”
That was when Arce summoned Zúñiga to chastise him a private meeting, according to Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo.
Less than 12 hours later, Zúñiga's troops were swarming Arce's presidential palace.
DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Bolivia's general commander of the Army, Juan José Zúñiga, sits inside an armored vehicle parked on Plaza Murillo, outside government palace in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of the government palace Wednesday as President Luis Arce said the country faced an attempted coup. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Bolivian police hold the detained Juan Jose Zuniga, former general commander of the Army, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. An apparent failed coup attempt erupted Wednesday in the country, and Zuniga appeared to be leading the rebellion. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Army Cmdr. Gen. Juan Jose Zuniga sits inside an armored vehicle at Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia's government palace Wednesday as President Luis Arce said the country faced an attempted coup. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Bolivian police hold the detained Juan Jose Zuniga, former general commander of the Army, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. An apparent failed coup attempt erupted Wednesday in the country, and Zuniga appeared to be leading the rebellion. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Beryl is forecast to strengthen into a powerful Category 4 storm as it approaches the southeast Caribbean, which began shutting down Sunday amid urgent pleads from government officials for people to take shelter.
Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“This is a very serious situation developing for the Windward Islands,” warned the National Hurricane Center in Miami, which said that Beryl was “forecast to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge … as an extremely dangerous hurricane.”
Early Sunday morning, Beryl was located about 465 miles (750 kilometers) east-southeast of Barbados. It was a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph) and was moving west at 21 mph (33 kph).
Two hurricane hunters were en route to the storm to gather more details about its intensity, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Beryl is expect to pass just south of Barbados early Monday and then head into the Caribbean Sea as a major hurricane on a path toward Jamaica. It is expected to weaken by mid-week but still remain a hurricane as it heads toward Mexico.
Forecasters warned of life-threatening storm surge of up to 9 feet (3 meters) in areas where Beryl will make landfall, with up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain for Barbados and nearby islands.
Long lines formed at gas stations and grocery stores in Barbados and other islands as people rushed to prepare for a storm that has broken records and rapidly intensified from a tropical storm with 35 mph winds on Friday to a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday.
Warm waters were fueling Beryl, with ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic the highest on record for this time of year, according to Brian McNoldy, University of Miami tropical meteorology researcher.
Beryl marks the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic in June, breaking a record set in 1933, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher. If Beryl’s winds reach 125 mph, it would be the second earliest such storm in the Atlantic on record, surpassing Audrey in 1957, he said.
In addition, if Beryl reaches a Category 3, it would only be the third storm to do so in the Caribbean prior to August; Dennis and Emily both did so in July of 2005, according to Klotzbach.
“We have to remain vigilant,” Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley said in a public address late Saturday. “We do not want to put anybody’s life at risk.”
Thousands of people were in Barbados for Saturday’s Twenty20 World Cup final, cricket’s biggest event, with Mottley noting that not all fans were able to leave Sunday despite many rushing to change their flights.
“Some of them have never gone through a storm before,” she said. “We have plans to take care of them.”
Mottley said all businesses should close by Sunday evening and warned the airport would close by nighttime.
Kemar Saffrey, president of a Barbadian group that aims to end homelessness, said in a video posted on social media Saturday night that those without homes tend to think they can ride out storms because they’ve done it before.
“I don’t want that to be the approach that they take,” he said, warning that Beryl is a dangerous storm and urging Barbadians to direct homeless people to a shelter.
Echoing his comments was Wilfred Abrahams, minister of home affairs and information.
“I need Barbadians at this point to be their brother’s keeper,” he said. “Some people are vulnerable.”
Meanwhile, St. Lucia Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre announced a national shutdown for Sunday evening and said schools and businesses would remain closed on Monday.
“Preservation and protection of life is a priority,” he said.
Caribbean leaders were preparing not only for Beryl, but for a cluster of thunderstorms trailing the hurricane that have a 70% chance of becoming a tropical depression.
“Do not let your guard down,” Mottley said.
Beryl is the second named storm in what is forecast to be an above-average hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto came ashore in northeastern Mexico with heavy rains that resulted in four deaths.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the 2024 hurricane season is likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast calls for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.
An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.
This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 3:10am GMT shows tropical storm Beryl, lower center right, as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. The storm could strengthen into the year's first hurricane before it reaches the Caribbean Sea early next week. (NOAA via AP)
This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 4:50pm EDT shows hurricane Beryl as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean and churns toward the southeast Caribbean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. (NOAA via AP)
This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 4:20pm EDT shows hurricane Beryl, lower center right, as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean and churns toward the southeast Caribbean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. (NOAA via AP)
