Cuba’s history repeats itself in Venezuela.
Deadly Siege of Venezuela Rebels Led by Former Action Hero Transfixes Country
In a deadly shootout on Monday that transfixed Venezuela, security forces surrounded the Caracas hide-out of a rebel band led by a rogue helicopter pilot who was once an action movie actor and is now the government’s most wanted man.
“They don’t want us to surrender, they want us dead!” the rebel leader, Óscar Pérez, shouts in one of a series of videos posted on Twitter that showed him bloodied and under siege.
ÚLTIMA HORA | Óscar Pérez está herido tras estallido de granada lanzada por cuerpos de seguridad que lo mantienen rodeado. Denuncia que régimen de Maduro les disparan y no los dejan entregarse pic.twitter.com/z1NNVCWZue
— Alberto Rodríguez (@AlbertoRT51) January 15, 2018
In a statement on Monday, Venezuelan officials said they had dismantled what they called a dangerous terrorist group, saying five members had been captured. Two police officers were killed and five were injured, they said.
Photos posted on social media sites that were said to have been leaked from the scene of the firefight showed what were believed to be the bodies of dead rebels.
Mr. Pérez rose to fame last year during street protests against President Nicolás Maduro as a daring dissident police officer revolting against the government.
In June, he and a small group commandeered a helicopter in the capital, Caracas. They used it to drop grenades onto the Supreme Court building and open fire on the Interior Ministry in a brazen midday attack.
Mr. Pérez then unfurled a banner calling on Venezuelans to rebel against Mr. Maduro, to the cheers of protesters below. He later released a video in which he and a masked band repeated their calls of rebellion.
While no one was injured in that attack, it was an embarrassment for the government, and it vowed to capture him.
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