Argentina's far-right President Javier Milei. Photo: EFE/file photo.
The Bolivian government summoned Argentina’s ambassador in La Paz, Marcelo Massoni, on Monday to express a “strong rejection” of the statements made by the Office of the President of the Republic of Argentina, Javier Milei, who repudiated what he calls a “false denunciation of a coup d’état made” by the government of Luis Arce.
The Bolivian Minister of the Presidency Maria Nela Prada, who is also acting as interim foreign minister, reported at a press conference that she had also summoned the Bolivian ambassador to Argentina, Ramiro Tapia, “for consultation” to “appear at the Bolivian government headquarters.”
The Office of the President of the Republic of Argentina published a statement on Sunday night in which it repudiated “the false accusation of a coup d’état made by the government” of Bolivia, a clear violation of basic principles of non-interference in the diplomatic affairs of other its host nation.
In the statement, Milei also accused the government of President Luis Arce of controlling the three branches of government and of holding more than “200 political prisoners,” including former interim president Jeanine Áñez and opposition governor Luis Fernando Camacho, both prosecuted for the 2019 coup d’état that ousted the then president Evo Morales.
Bolivia’s Evo Morales: President Arce Lied About the Coup, Arce Responds
Earlier, the Arce government strongly rejected “the unfriendly and reckless statements made by the Office of the President of the Argentine Republic” regarding the military insurrection last Wednesday which the Bolivian president, as well as world and regional leaders, denounced as an “attempted coup d’état,” where 14 people were injured.
Last Wednesday, a group of heavily armed soldiers with tanks led by the dismissed military chief General Juan José Zuñiga carried out an armed uprising against the headquarters of Luis Arce’s government. Hours later, after a popular mobilization and executive decisions taken by Arce’s government, the then commander retreated and was imprisoned along with other military officials participating in the coup.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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