Venezuela’s Most-Wanted Rebel Shared His Story, Just Before Death<br />With Mr. Pérez out of the public eye, the government painted a picture of a dangerous rebel band<br />that it said tried to kill people that day at the Supreme Court.<br />that They were the ones trafficking the drugs,<br />Mr. Pérez, killed last Monday by government forces, had spent his final years starring in spectacular<br />narratives — sometimes as a hero on the movie screen, other times as a real-life rebel.<br />Mr. Pérez said he blamed Mr. Maduro and his administration for what had befallen<br />Venezuela: the shortages, the corruption and the country’s rising crime.<br />Mr. Pérez said the movie also showed the kind of police force that he wished had existed in Venezuela: Mug shots displayed on high-tech screens.<br />There were clear skies above Caracas when the explosions sounded: They were from stun grenades thrown out of the helicopter,<br />and they were meant to generate attention without causing harm, Mr. Pérez said.<br />that Later that morning, Venezuela’s govern<br />Mr. Pérez said he had long thought of using a helicopter to make his dissent known.<br />Near the funeral, a man flew a kite that said "Liberty." Mr. Pérez was an actor, a detective and an insurgent.<br />But the reality he lived as the country’s economy collapsed was much different, Mr. Pérez said.
