Helicopter attack on gov’t buildings oddly ineffective

CARACAS, Venezuela — Oscar Perez is a cop, pilot, action movie star and dog trainer. He’s now also a fugitive, accused of strafing two key Venezuelan government buildings from a helicopter in a quixotic attempt to set off a revolt against President Nicolas Maduro.

Authorities on Wednesday conducted a nationwide manhunt for Perez a day after the government charged that he stole the police chopper and directed grenades and gunfire against the Supreme Court and Interior Ministry in what Maduro called a “terrorist attack.”

No one was injured, and there was no sign of damage at the buildings. But the episode added another layer of intrigue to a three-month-old political crisis that has left at least 75 people dead and hundreds more jailed or injured in clashes between security forces and protesters seeking Maduro's removal.

Did Perez act alone? Are other military uprisings in the works? Or was it an elaborate ruse clumsily orchestrated by the government to distract public attention or justify a tougher crackdown on the opposition?

National Assembly President Julio Borges expressed doubts about Maduro's version of events but cautioned that he and the rest of the opposition were still analyzing what happened.

“There are people who say it was a government-staged hoax, others who say it was real,” he said in a radio interview. “Whatever it was, it all points in the same direction: that the situation in Venezuela is unsustainable."” Little is known about Perez. On his Instagram account, he notes his job as a police investigator and tactical helicopter pilot and says his passion is Venezuela.

In 2015, he starred in a film called Suspended Death, and several photos show him in fatigues, bearing assault rifles, skydiving and standing in action poses with a German shepherd by his side.

Sometime Tuesday, he posted on his Instagram account a video in which he read a manifesto calling for rebellion. He claimed to speak on behalf of a coalition of renegade members of the security forces.

Eyewitness accounts say the helicopter had hanging from its side a large banner referring to article 350 of Venezuela's constitution, which empowers Venezuelans to disobey any regime that violates human rights.

“We have two choices: be judged tomorrow by our conscience and the people or begin today to free ourselves from this corrupt government,” Perez said while reading from the manifesto in front of four figures dressed in fatigues and ski masks and carrying assault rifles.

The government accused Perez and others in the helicopter of firing 15 shots at the Interior Ministry as a reception was taking place for 80 people. It then flew a short distance to the court, which was in session, and dropped grenades, two of them against national guardsmen protecting the building.

The helicopter was later found near the coast not far from Caracas, and special forces were deployed to press the hunt, Vice-President Tareck El Aissami said.