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Venezuela Stifles Dissent, Accuses Generals of Plotting Coup

The Venezuelan government has arrested three generals it accuses of planning to oust President Maduro with the help of the opposition.
Photo by Reuters

Ever since anti-government protesters started pouring into Venezuela’s streets almost two months ago, President Nicolas Maduro has accused them of trying incite a US-backed coup like the one in 2002 that briefly deposed his predecessor, Hugo Chavez. He’s been doing so with such regularity, you’d think he was inviting the prospect.

Well, it appears he’s finally gotten his wish.

The Venezuelan government has arrested three air force generals it accuses of planning to oust Maduro with the help of opposition leaders. The alleged plot was reportedly discovered after concerned officers alerted authorities to the “conspiracy.”

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The generals have not yet been named, nor has any evidence been presented to the public.

Maduro announced the arrests on national television on Tuesday, claiming that the generals had “tried to raise the air force against the legitimate, constitutional government.”

Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, Venezuela’s top court sentenced Daniel Ceballos, the mayor of the city of San Cristobal, to one year in jail for failing to remove barricades set up by protesters after being ordered to do so by the central administration.

Venezuelan protesters return to streets in spite of military threats

San Cristobal was where the wave of protests began in early February, when students at the University of the Andes staged a protest after a sexual assault on campus. The repressive response to that rally exploded into a massive political crisis for the government.

Ceballos had voiced support for the demonstrations but criticized the use of violence. The court removed him from office.

On Monday, Venezuela’s congress booted opposition leader and congresswoman Maria Corina Machado from office after she addressed the Organization of American States last week. The move stripped her of parliamentary immunity.

Machado has been behind some of the largest opposition protests of the last several weeks. According to Venezuela’s Consulate General in San Francisco, the Attorney General’s office is weighing evidence against her for “allegedly being involved in crimes against the independence and security of the nation, issuing calls to violence, incitement to commit a crime, terrorism, violation of the Constitution and treason for promoting a coup and foreign intervention in internal affairs.”

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Leopoldo Lopez, another leading opposition figure, has been in prison for several weeks for inciting the protests. He faces charges of arson and “conspiracy.” Lopez (or one of his supporters) tweeted his support for Ceballos on Tuesday.

A — Leopoldo López (@leopoldolopez)March 26, 2014

“Daniel Ceballos was kidnapped by the state and the Supreme Court of Justice, serving the dictatorship, sentenced him in Caracas,” Lopez wrote. “Cowards!”

Critics of the government regard the latest conspiracy theories and arrests as just another stage of Maduro’s intensified crackdown on legitimate protests, and accuse him of turning Venezuela into an authoritarian state.

Follow Alice Speri on Twitter: @alicesperi