Photo: The Canadian Press

Anti-government protesters, masked and carrying shields, run across a highway in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday.

Oscar Perez is a cop, pilot, action movie star and dog trainer. He's now also a fugitive, accused of strafing two key Venezuelan government buildings from a helicopter in a quixotic attempt to set off a revolt against President Nicolas Maduro.

Authorities on Wednesday conducted a nationwide manhunt for Perez a day after the government charged that he stole the police chopper and directed grenades and gunfire against the Supreme Court and Interior Ministry in what Maduro called a "terrorist attack."

No one was injured, and there was no sign of damage at the buildings. But the episode added another layer of intrigue to a 3-month-old political crisis that has left at least 75 people dead and hundreds more jailed or injured in clashes between security forces and protesters seeking Maduro's removal.

Did Perez act alone? Are other military uprisings in the works? Or was it an elaborate ruse clumsily orchestrated by the government to distract public attention or justify a tougher crackdown on the opposition?

Julio Borges, president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, expressed doubts about Maduro's version of events but cautioned that he and the rest of the opposition were still analyzing what happened.

"There are people who say it was a government-staged hoax, others who say it was real," Borges said in a radio interview. "Whatever it was, it all points in the same direction: That the situation in Venezuela is unsustainable."