Venezuelan authorities arrested three air force generals for allegedly plotting a coup against the elected government, according to President Nicolas Maduro.  It comes amid weeks of anti-government protests that have claimed the lives of at least 32 people.

Maduro says the three generals, so far unnamed, had links with the opposition that is openly encouraging the peaceful side of the protests.  “Young officers” had tipped off authorities about the generals’ alleged plans, which Maduro framed as the crescendo to nearly two months of protests.

“The generals who have been detained have direct links with opposition sectors and were saying that this week was going to be decisive,” said President Maduro, adding the plot was to create “chaos in the public services, power cuts across Venezuela.”

It’s the first time in 15 years of Democratic Socialist government that generals have been arrested for allegedly trying to overthrow the government.

Conservative protests also preceded the 2002 coup attempt against Maduro’s mentor, then-President Hugo Chavez.  Chavez, Maduro, and their United Socialist Party have won twenty out of twenty-one elections since 1999.  Nearly all observers, including one former US President, pronounced those elections to be fair and legitimate.  The only election Chavez lost was a referendum to expand his executive power – proving the Democratic checks and balances were alive and well.