Venezuela: Helicopter strafes court in ‘terrorist attack’
No one is injured, but incident adds intrigue to volatile crisis
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 Nicolás 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 3-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?
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 in Vargas state not far from Caracas, and elite special forces were deployed there to press the hunt, Vice President Tareck El Aissami said.
As the drama was unfolding outside the court, inside magistrates were issuing a number of rulings further blocking the opposition.
One broadened the powers of staunchly pro-government ombudsman Tarek William Saab, allowing him to carry out criminal investigations that are the exclusive prerogative of Maduro’s most powerful critic, chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz.
A defiant Ortega accused Maduro of carrying out “state terrorism” and said she won’t recognize three new rulings she portrayed as a brazen attempt to eliminate her position as the country’s top law enforcement official.
In Washington, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned that that the situation in Venezuela is spinning out of control. Maduro “is blaming the protesters for trying to overthrow his government when all they want is true democracy,” she said.