The country narrowly avoided a financial crisis in 2023 by passing a law to allow the central bank to sell about half of its gold reserves. Six months later, that had nearly all been spent: The bank had just 23.5 tons of gold left at the end of the year, and the law says this figure can’t drop below 22 tons.

Morales recently split with Arce as the two battled for control of the ruling socialist party. He also denounced the coup attempt.

The move by Bolivia’s military come just as Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and other leftist Latin American presidents sought to reunite Arce and Morales ahead of next year’s presidential elections in Bolivia, according to a Brazilian government official.

Brazil, however, didn’t see any indication that a coup was underway, a second official said. Both requested anonymity in discussing Lula’s strategy.

The Brazilian president had already announced plans to meet Arce in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in the beginning of July, right after a Mercosur summit that will take place in Paraguay.

Nations including Ecuador and Brazil said that democracy must be upheld in Bolivia. The secretary of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, said on X that he condemned the events.

“The army should subject itself to the civil powers legitimately elected,” he said.

U.S. National Security Council spokeswomen Adrienne Watson said that “the United States is closely monitoring the situation in Bolivia and urge calm and restraint.”

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(With assistance from Simone Iglesias and Jordan Fabian.)

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