ALWAGHT- The Associated Press reports that a US agent attempted to enlist Maduro’s pilot, Gen. Bitner Villegas, in a covert plan to redirect the president’s aircraft into American hands.
US Homeland Security agent Edwin Lopez allegedly led a covert effort to recruit Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s personal pilot, Gen. Bitner Villegas, promising wealth and protection if he diverted Maduro’s aircraft to a location where US forces could seize him. The operation—marked by encrypted messages, secret airport meetings and hidden recordings—reflected Washington’s aggressive attempts to remove Maduro, whom US officials accuse of protecting drug traffickers.
The plot began after a tipster alerted US officials that two sanctioned aircraft linked to Maduro were undergoing repairs. Lopez questioned Venezuelan pilots dispatched to retrieve the planes and pitched the plan directly to Villegas. Even after Lopez retired, he continued pressing the pilot, invoking a $50 million bounty on Maduro’s capture, but Villegas ultimately rejected the offer and reaffirmed his loyalty.
Sources told AP the mission spanned more than a year and became a bold but futile espionage effort that consumed Lopez. Meanwhile, tensions between the US and Venezuela have escalated amid increased American military presence in the Caribbean, as Maduro accuses Washington of manufacturing a war to seize control of Venezuela’s resources.
