In La Paz in the early morning of 9 July 1944, an unknown assailant shot Arze twice outside his house. While one bullet missed his head by millimeters, the other lodged itself in his thorax, leaving him incapacitated and in hospital for several months. The attempt on the life of the influential leftist politician was a cause of grave concern among academics which, given the previous animosity between the two, suspected government involvement in the incident. In an attempt to push against this notion, a government delegation including Villarroel himself, accompanied by Foreign Minister Enrique Baldivieso, visited Arze at his hospital, showing concern for his health. A subsequent liability trial against the Villarroel regime failed to reach a concrete conclusion as to whether Villarroel or RADEPA had instigated the assassination attempt.