Helicopter ‘hurls grenades at Venezuela Supreme Court in terror attack’

After three months of near daily protest, Venezuela is on a hair trigger.

(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File).

Oscar Pérez posted Instagram videos admitting the attack and calling on Venezuelans to rise up against the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

The officer’s public profile has led critics of President Nicolas Maduro to suggest that the attack, which caused no deaths or injuries, was staged to give him an excuse to crackdown on the opposition.

“I’m not at all convinced by the helicopter incident”, said Miguel Rodriguez, a former interior minister and intelligence chief under Mr Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez, who has now turned against the government.

The Venezuelan opposition has often criticised the Supreme Court for rulings that maintain Maduro’s power. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is proceeding with a complaint filed against her by socialist party lawmaker Pedro Carreno. That decision was mostly reversed, but the opposition has not been moved, even as Maduro digs in his heels and the Organization of American States proves unable to come to a resolution on what to do about Venezuela.

Maduro has responded to the protests by sending in the National Guard.

Opposition leaders have always been calling on Venezuela’s security forces to stop obeying a president they call a murderous dictator.

The figures released by Ortega Diaz’s office Thursday indicate police and military officers are responsible for about a quarter of the deaths.

Maduro has publicised it as the only way to stabilise the country’s situation.

In Caracas, the capital, and cities across the country, anti-Maduro protesters continued to march Wednesday as they have since late March to protest food scarcities, hyperinflation and abuse of power.

Maduro’s opponents say the failure of 18 years of socialist policies is to blame.

Another student, Alfredo Garcia, said the students are fighting for the basic rights of democracy and freedom. Reports indicate that the helicopter “fired 15 shots at the Interior Ministry, where scores of people were at a social event, and dropped four grenades on the court, where judges were meeting”. But the leftist leader branded the “terrorist attack” a failed coup backed by the United States.

Maduro exclaimed that the USA government pushed for the coup attempt as a way “to gain control of Venezuela’s oil reserves”.

No one was injured or killed in the assault, Reuters reported.

Tuesday’s helicopter attack is believed to have been carried out by Oscar Perez, an apparent police pilot and budding action movie actor.

Opposition leaders have always been calling on Venezuela’s security forces to stop obeying Maduro. It was found by the Venezuelan Air Force in a heavily-wooded area near the municipality of Osma, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Caracas.