Last Tuesday, there were reports -- and video footage to accompany them -- of a helicopter attacking Venezuela's Supreme Court and the Interior Ministry buildings which President Nicolas Maduro immediately labeled a terrorist attack. Details of the attack say that there were 80 people inside the Interior building celebrating National Journalists Day when it came under fire. The helicopter then dropped four grenades onto the Supreme Court building, two of which were targeting security guards but there were no reports of any casualties. The "attack" took place within a climate of daily protests against the Maduro government, calling for him to step down over the nation being in an endless state of crisis with little food, sky-rocketing prices and an overall struggling economy.
'Lone wolf' attack?
It was reported in April that Maduro might have tried to seize control of parliament using the Supreme Court. The takeover was "called off" due to international pressure which forced President Maduro to reverse the act, only for him to end up crediting himself for "rescuing" parliament. With most of these incidents, Venezuela's president has blamed the United States for frequent attempts at trying to overthrow him as he did with last week's helicopter attack. At the same time, the name of Oscar Perez gained some notoriety as the person who led the attack on government buildings who also piloted the helicopter. Aside from a second man who was unidentified, there were no signs of other support.
Obviously fake
It is said that Oscar Perez is a former captain of Venezuela's intelligence agency, CICPC, but he is also an actor who has a bit of a history playing an action-hero in at least one Venezuelan movie from 2015 called "Suspended Death." Maduro said that Perez was sent by the U.S. embassy in Caracas in order to try and overthrow him as a way to blame the United States for that coup attempt. But the President's critics say that the stunt was staged by the Venezuelan president.
Reasons for this point to Perez's high-profile as an actor and his popularity on social media.
Prior to the attack, Perez made a video where it shows him reading a manifesto against the Maduro government while he stands with four armed men. A closer look at the video, however, shows that only two of those men are real. The two figures behind them appear to be painted on the wall as they cast no shadows.
The figure to his left appears to be wearing khaki pants but could also be painted on the wall. It's possible that with a light put up against that wall, they appear to be three-dimensional.
There's also the chance that actual clothing was attached to the wall for the effect.The video was first published on Perez's Instagram account, an account that has been deleted since the incident made headlines. Many believe that the reason President Maduro staged the attack was so that he could have a reason to crackdown on his opposition. The President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, said that the "terrorist attack" was a minor incident to which Maduro took offense. He responded by saying that Santos should "get his hands off of Venezuela".
