U.S. agent tried to recruit Maduro’s pilot in plot to seize Venezuelan leader

A U.S. federal agent attempted to recruit Nicolás Maduro’s personal pilot in a secret plan to divert the Venezuelan president’s plane to a location where he could be arrested, AP has revealed.

A covert effort by U.S. authorities to lure Venezuela’s president into custody involved an audacious pitch: persuade his trusted pilot to betray him mid-flight. The plan, led by Homeland Security agent Edwin Lopez, was ultimately unsuccessful but revealed the extent of U.S. efforts to undermine Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

According to interviews with current and former U.S. officials and communications reviewed by the Associated Press, Lopez met General Bitner Villegas — a Venezuelan air force officer and Maduro’s chief pilot — at a hangar in the Dominican Republic in April 2024. There, he offered Villegas vast riches and a new life in exchange for diverting the presidential jet to U.S.-controlled territory, such as Puerto Rico or Guantanamo Bay.

Villegas, while initially noncommittal, shared his contact details with Lopez and continued encrypted messaging for over a year. In August, Lopez reminded him of a recently increased $50 million reward for Maduro’s capture on U.S. narco-terrorism charges, urging him to "be Venezuela’s hero".

The scheme was set in motion after a tipster informed U.S. officials that two of Maduro’s private jets were undergoing repairs in the Dominican Republic — a potential breach of U.S. sanctions. Federal agents traced the planes and linked them to the Venezuelan government, later seizing them during operations in May 2024 and February 2025.

Even after retiring in July, Lopez continued to message Villegas, but the pilot ultimately rebuffed him. In one final exchange in September, Villegas accused the agent of cowardice, declaring: “We Venezuelans are cut from a different cloth... The last thing we are is traitors.” He blocked Lopez shortly after.

Seeking to unsettle Caracas, Lopez’s allies in the Venezuelan opposition went public. Marshall Billingslea, a former U.S. national security official, posted a mocking birthday message to Villegas on social media alongside a cropped photo from the hangar meeting — triggering speculation in Venezuela that the pilot had been compromised.

Just minutes later, a jet linked to Maduro abruptly returned to Caracas mid-flight. Villegas disappeared from public view before resurfacing six days later in military uniform on state television, standing beside Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who lauded him as a “kick-ass patriot”.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and State Department declined to comment, and attempts to contact Villegas were unsuccessful. The Venezuelan government has not responded.

President Donald Trump has taken an increasingly hard line against Maduro, deploying military forces to the Caribbean and authorising covert CIA activity in Venezuela this month. At least 57 people have been killed in U.S. interdiction operations since the summer, targeting alleged drug traffickers.

Maduro, in power since 2013, has long accused the U.S. of plotting regime change and has repeatedly denied all allegations of narco-trafficking. The pilot operation adds to a growing list of attempts by Washington to isolate or capture the Venezuelan leader.

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