His name was Oscar Perez

“Venezuela, they don’t want us to turn ourselves in. They literally want to kill us, they just told us (so)…stay strong,” said Oscar Perez in one of the seven videos he posted to Instagram on January 15. Mr. Perez and his rebel group, who had been hiding out in a small house in the Caracas neighborhood of El Junqito were surrounded by police. After exchanging gunfire for nine hours, two policemen were killed; five rebels were captured while seven others lay dead; including Oscar Perez.  The next day, Venezuelan Interior Minister Nestor Reverol proclaimed that a “terrorist cell” had been “dismantled”. The millions who saw the whole episode play out live on social media however, felt they witnessed something else; an extrajudicial mass killing.

Six months prior to his death few Venezuelans had ever heard of Mr. Perez, a 36 year old pilot and former policeman. Those who did probably knew him as the lead actor in the 2015 movie ‘Suspended Death’; in which Mr. Perez played a heroic policeman, who at one point pilots a helicopter in a chase scene. That was until July 27, when in real life Mr. Perez piloted a stolen helicopter in a daring attack on the Venezuelan Supreme Court, making him a household name across the country.

Flying over the Supreme Court Palace Mr. Perez threw non-lethal flash grenades and unfurled a banner calling for people to rise up against the Maduro regime. It was the start of outlandish (and notably non-lethal) public stunts in which Mr. Perez and his ‘rebels’ would make to “recuperate our beloved Venezuela”.  This would include stealing a cache of weapons from a National Guard Barracks as well as becoming a social media sensation, posting numerous videos depicting his preparations for battle; such as scuba diving with weapons and even shooting a target facing the other way using only a makeup mirror.    

For Venezuelans, whose daily lives feel like a surreal tragedy, Mr. Perez appeared as a cartoonish annoyance. Opposition leaders felt he was so absurd he had to have been secretly working with the government to make them look bad. One person did take Mr. Perez seriously though - Nicolas Maduro. And to Maduro there was no question that Mr. Perez was a terrorist. Which is ironic considering that Maduro’s idol, Hugo Chavez, also tried to overthrow the state via armed insurrection. Though unlike Mr. Perez, Chavez wasn’t bothered by bourgeoisie concepts like avoiding civilian deaths.

In killing Mr. Perez as they did, Maduro surely hoped to not just quash a potential insurrection, but also send a message to other would-be revolutionaries. But he may unwittingly, have ended up breathing new life into Mr. Perez’s cause. The brutality meted out to Mr. Perez sent shock waves across Venezuela and the world. Latin American governments called it a “massacre”. German newspaper Der Spiegel branded Maduro a “butcher”. Former Colombian President Andres Pastrana told the Miami Herald, “The world took notice of how a narco-dictatorship violates the norms of international law, commits crimes against humanity and is willing to kill its opponents”.

Not everyone noticed though. A week after Mr. Perez’s killing, Venezuela’s President of the Constituent Assembly Delcy Rodriguez arrived in Trinidad to meet Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and exchange pleasantries over an impending natural gas deal. News reports indicated that talks were “fruitful”. No mention was made of Mr. Perez. Maduro can always count on Dr. Rowley to look the other way or help defend him when called upon. Last year Dr. Rowley went so far as calling for Organization of American States (OAS) Chief Luis Almagro to step down after Almagro dared criticize Maduro’s appalling human rights record.  But Nicolas Maduro could soon be facing charges by the International Criminal Court (ICC) because Mr. Almagro is currently lobbying the ICC to investigate Mr. Perez’s killing. Condemning the ICC would be foolish but wouldn’t stop Dr. Rowley.

Oscar Perez was buried on the morning of January 21 at Caracas Eastern Cemetery. The National Guard only allowed his Aunt and cousin to be present. “We’re not criminals. We’re patriots who are fighting for our convictions,” said Mr. Perez on social media the day he died. Father Yanez, the priest conducting the funeral, gave this reassurance, “They will be able to kill our body but not the message," he said. The flowers currently blanketing Mr. Perez’s grave may prove that his message is more alive now than ever.

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