Bolivian President Luis "Lucho" Arce stares down Army general staging a military coup

La Paz, June 26 (RHC)-- The Bolivian people have crush an attempted military coup!

Bolivian soldiers led by the commanding general of the Bolivian Army rammed a tank into the doors of the Bolivian presidential palace, shattering them open on Wednesday afternoon. 

The rebel commander of the armed forces, General Juan Jose Zuniga, issued a demand that all "political prisoners" be released, including the jailed former 'president' Jeanine Áñez. 

“Surely soon there will be a new Cabinet of ministers; our country, our state cannot go on like this,” Zuniga declared to reporters from the tank before he entered the palace, according to the Associated Press.   

The soldiers clamored inside, where they confronted President Luis Acre.  But in an extraordinary moment captured by local TV networks and re-posted online, Acre came face-to-face with Zuniga, staring him directly in the eyes as Zuniga’s soldiers pushed into the building.

“I am your commander, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers.  I will not allow this insubordination,” Acre was heard telling Zuniga during the tense standoff.

Acre also called on his supporters to stand up to the coup and fight back in a video he recorded alongside his ministers before the soldiers stormed the palace.

Roberto Ríos Ibáñez, secretary-general of Bolivia’s trade union confederation, similarly called on Bolivians to launch a general strike in resistance to the coup.