BUENOS AIRES, June 27. /TASS/. Bolivia's rebel General Juan Jose Zuniga has tried to lure the police to his side, the country's Interior Minister Carlos del Castillo said.

"The chief of police arrived at the presidential palace on my orders. As he was about to enter the building, Zuniga asked to come up to him and began to say that he had the support of the international community, that he had a plan, that he had the support of the armed forces, and that only the police were missing," the minister said on Bolivian television. According to him, the police chief responded that he would not violate his oath to respect the constitution.

Del Castillo also said that Zuniga has already had his first interrogation since his arrest. "The public prosecutor's office and the police will be busy tonight. But they are confident that all the participants and accomplices will end up in jail," the minister said.

On June 26, a group of Bolivian military officers led by General Juan Jose Zuniga, who was dismissed as the army chief on June 25, occupied the square in front of the government building in Bolivia’s de-facto capital city of La Paz. President Luis Arce condemned their actions as an attempted coup and swore in the new command of the armed forces. The new army chief, Jose Wilson Sanchez ordered all the servicemen to return to their barracks. Shortly after, the military left the square.