Oscar Perez was an actor, as well as an investigator for the Forensic and Criminal Investigations Unit of Caracas, Venezuela. He is known for being behind the Caracas helicopter attack on the headquarters of the Supreme Court of Justice during the 2017 Venezuelan protests and constitutional crisis.
Since the attack in 2017, he kept running away. It was uncertain if he dead or alive. This Tuesday, the Government of Venezuela announced that they killed Perez and six other members during an operation by government troops in El Junquito, west of Caracas.
Perez’s death got confirmed by Venezuela’s Minister of Interior, Nestor Reverol. Negotiations with Maduro’s Government allowed them to locate Perez.
Perez, 36, is on Reverol’s list of “seven deceased terrorists” during the assault. Part of the attack, which included grenade launchers, got broadcast on Twitter by El Nacional newspaper.
Venezuela’s Government wanted to arrest Perez on charges of terrorism since June 2017 for stealing a helicopter from the CICPC and other “heinous crimes,” according to the official note. Since the attack, Perez briefly got on social media to publicly support any assaults against Maduro’s government.
His last rebellious movement was when he stole weapons from the Bolivarian National Guard in San Pedro de Los Altos. His face plastered ‘Wanted’ posters were all over the walls of the Caracas airport, describing him as a “terrorist and fascist.”
According to Noticias 24, the government only reported at least two policemen killed and several criminals “down,” but Reverol clarified at a press conference on Tuesday that they killed seven “terrorists” including Perez.
In 2015, Perez starred in the Venezuelan film “Muerte Suspendida.” In “Muerte Suspendida,” Perez portrays Efraín Robles, a Special Action Brigades officer in charge of air operations, similar to his former position in real life.
“I am a man who goes out without knowing if he is going home because death is part of the evolution,” said Perez during an interview in 2015.
This article was inspired by BBC // Quién es Óscar Pérez, el actor y policía sublevado contra el gobierno de Nicolás Maduro que murió tras un largo asedio de las fuerzas de seguridad de Venezuela