BOLIVIAN President Luis Arce angrily called accusations that he was behind an attempted coup against his government “lies” on Thursday. Mr Arce said the general who led it acted on his own and vowed he would face justice.

Mr Arce’s comments, his first to the press since Wednesday's failed attack, came after General Juan Jose Zuniga alleged without evidence that the president had ordered the mutiny in a ruse to boost his flagging popularity.

This fuelled speculation about what really happened, even after the government announced an initial wave of arrests of 17 people, most of them military officers.