Venezuela buries rebel policeman killed in shootout

In this July 13, 2017 file photo, Oscar Perez speaks to the press at a night vigil to honor the more than 90 people killed during three months of anti-government protests, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Miguel Rodriguez/AP Photo)

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A rebel police officer who led a brazen helicopter attack on government buildings in Venezuela last year was buried Sunday by the military nearly a week after being killed in a shootout with security forces, relatives said.

Just two of Oscar Perez's relatives were allowed to attend the early morning burial at a Caracas cemetery surrounded by National Guard officers. Authorities denied relatives' demands that they hand over the body of Perez and six others killed.

"They arbitrarily decided to carry out the controlled burial without granting permission to observe him, much less allow him to be moved with his family," Perez's widow, Danahis Vivas, said on Twitter.

Vivas is out of the country with the couple's children. Perez's aunt, Aura Perez, confirmed that the military allowed her and her daughter into the cemetery to see Perez before he was buried.

Perez and six in his rebel group died Monday fighting against police and soldiers in a small mountain community outside of Caracas, ending a manhunt for the former policeman that began after he led a helicopter attack on government buildings in June and called for an uprising against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

Officials have called Perez and his group a "terrorist cell," and blamed them for instigating the violent shootout that killed two police officers. Authorities have not commented on the burial.

The government has drawn international criticism and been accused of unlawfully killing the group after video clips Perez posted during the shootout showed him calling out that they wished to surrender.

Perez was the last of the seven to be buried by the military over the weekend. The families received death certificates showing that Perez and five others had each died of a gunshot to the head.

Alfredo Romero, director of the Caracas-based human rights group Foro Penal, told local media that he's demanding a thorough investigation to determine whether the deaths were acts of "intentional homicide."