Venezuela arrests generals on ‘coup’ charges

Three Venezuelan air force generals accused of plotting a coup against the leftist government of President Nicolás Maduro have been arrested amid a widening crackdown on the country’s growing opposition movement.

The unidentified generals were in contact with opposition politicians and "were trying to get the air force to rise up against the legitimately elected government," Maduro said at a meeting on Tuesday of South American foreign ministers.

"This group that was captured has direct links with sectors of the opposition, and they were saying that this week was the decisive week," Maduro added.

The arrests follow more than six weeks of anti-government street protests that have left at least 34 people dead and many others injured.

The generals have been summoned before a court-martial, Maduro said, adding that the plot was uncovered because other officers came forward to say they were being recruited.

Asked for details about the generals, a senior official told the AFP news agency that the information was "being handled only through Maduro's office."

It is the first time in 15 years of socialist government that generals had been arrested for alleged coup plotting, said military expert Fernando Falcon, a retired lieutenant colonel.

Massive protests in April 2002 resulted in the brief ouster of Maduro's predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez, before he was restored to power for another decade.

However, current protests are not as large as those that ousted Chávez, and there have been no signs that the current turmoil could force Maduro out of office.

Venezuela's opposition movement, led primarily by the country's middle class, is angry with the government over soaring crime, hyperinflation and shortages of basic goods such as toilet paper.

Demonstrators are also angry at Venezuela's close financial and political ties to Cuba, the only communist one-party state in the Americas.

Maduro had earlier said he fended off a coup bid aided by the United States and other "fascists."

The president still enjoys support among Venezuela's larger poor population.

Wire services