Bolivian President Replaces Military High Command Three Days Before Elections

On Sunday, Bolivians will elect president and lawmakers for the next five years amid a severe economic crisis.

President Luis Arce replaced the top military leadership of the Bolivian Armed Forces on Thursday, three days before Sunday’s general elections.

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Arce swore in Gustavo Anibarro as interim commander of the Armed Forces; Sherman Sempertegui as chief of the Armed Forces General Staff; Roberto Delgadillo as commander of the Army; Marco Antonio Choquehuanca as commander of the Air Force; and Freddy Pozo as commander of the Navy.

“You have a mission, in addition to your constitutional mandate, to maintain the peace and governability of the state and, fundamentally, to guarantee the stability of all legally and democratically constituted governments,” the Bolivian president said.

Arce acknowledged that his country faces economic problems and urged the new military leaders to oversee the Armed Forces “in an adaptation to new times.” He called on Bolivians to go to the polls so that “a government transition can take place after a long time in a peaceful and democratic manner.”

“May those of us who entered through the front door of this Casa Grande also leave through the front door and leave a democratic legacy for the Bolivian people,” Arce stated and pledged that he “will never take up arms against the people” and that “differences must be resolved at the ballot box, peacefully and democratically.”

For his part, Commander Anibarro committed to leading the Bolivian Armed Forces “in strict adherence to the Political Constitution of the State, preserving peace, national unity and the institutions.”

In 2024, Arce appointed new military commanders on three occasions, one of them after an attempted coup in June, when former military officer Juan Zuñiga stormed the government palace in an effort to remove Arce from the presidency — something former President Evo Morales described as a “self-coup.”

On Sunday, Bolivians will elect a president, vice president and lawmakers for the next five years amid a severe economic crisis marked by a shortage of dollars, fuel scarcity, and the worst inflation in decades.

(Telesur)