Latin America has long been the traditional home of the military coup – or ‘golpe’ in Spanish – so the sight yesterday of soldiers rushing the presidential palace in La Paz, capital of Bolivia, and ramming its doors open with an armoured vehicle, may not have seemed surprising.

The abortive coup attempt was aimed at toppling Bolivia’s left-wing president, Luis Arce

After hours of confusion, the leader of the coup, General Juan Jose Zuniga, was led away under arrest, with his attempt to ‘restructure democracy’ having clearly failed.