A police pilot and one-time movie star commandeered a helicopter and attacked Venezuela’s Interior Ministry and Supreme Court with bullets and grenades in what the government said was evidence of coup-mongering, and some opponents dismissed as a staged farce.
The pilot circled over central Caracas on Tuesday, fired 15 shots at the ministry where around 80 people were attending a ceremony on a terrace and then dropped four grenades on the court building while it was in session, the government said in a statement.
It named the pilot as Oscar Alberto Pérez and said he worked for the investigative police force, known by its Spanish initials CICPC.