The Associated Press (AP) on Tuesday published an investigative report detailing a failed U.S. attempt to recruit Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s personal pilot, General Bitner Villegas, in a plot designed to facilitate Maduro’s capture by American forces. The operation was reportedly led by Edwin López, a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent and retired U.S. Army Ranger.
According to the AP report, the plan began in late 2023 after López received intelligence that two of Maduro’s aircraft were undergoing maintenance in the Dominican Republic. Using this information, López arranged secret meetings with Villegas inside an airport hangar. Through encrypted communications, López allegedly offered Villegas a lucrative deal—promising financial rewards, relocation and protection for his family in the United States, and recognition as a national hero in Venezuela—if he agreed to divert Maduro’s plane to a location where U.S. forces could seize him.
Villegas, however, remained undecided for over 16 months, even after López’s retirement from the agency in July 2025. The retired agent reportedly continued pressing the general to act, citing a $50 million U.S. bounty placed on Maduro. Ultimately, Villegas refused, blocked all communication, and publicly reaffirmed his loyalty to Maduro on Venezuelan state television.
Before breaking contact, Villegas reportedly sent López a final text message stating, “Venezuelans are cut from a different cloth—the last thing we are is traitors,” responding to López’s earlier warning that “the window for a decision is closing.”
The AP investigation suggests that the recruitment attempt was one of several covert efforts launched by U.S. agencies to undermine Maduro’s leadership. López’s operation, initiated during former President Joe Biden’s administration, appears to have ended in failure shortly after President Donald Trump assumed office in January.
Since taking office, Trump has reportedly expanded U.S. military activity in the Caribbean under what the administration describes as a “counter-narcotics” mission. According to defense sources cited by the AP, a significant U.S. naval presence—including aircraft carriers, submarines, fighter jets, and more than 10,000 Marines—has been deployed near Venezuelan waters.
On Tuesday, U.S. bombers flew within 50 miles of Venezuela’s coast before returning to base—the third such maneuver in a week and the closest to date—prompting speculation that these flights may serve as test runs for potential future air operations.