The American agent who tried to steal Maduro’s pilot 

October 31, 2025

A secretive US plan to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro took shape in 2024 with a pitch that sounded straight out of a Cold War thriller. A US federal agent, Edwin Lopez, tried to convince Maduro’s chief pilot to deliver the Venezuelan leader into American custody — a mission that promised fortune, fame and danger but ultimately collapsed in failure.

The covert operation began on April 24, 2024, when a tipster visited the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic claiming knowledge of Maduro’s aircraft undergoing repairs there. Lopez, a 50-year-old attaché and veteran agent with Homeland Security Investigations, was intrigued. The maintenance of those planes, both French-made Dassault jets, likely violated US sanctions, giving Washington legal grounds to seize them.

Lopez, a wiry former US Army Ranger from Puerto Rico with a long record of targeting drug traffickers and money launderers, traced the aircraft to La Isabela Airport in Santo Domingo. When investigators discovered that five Venezuelan pilots had arrived to retrieve the jets, Lopez conceived a risky idea: persuade one of them, preferably Maduro’s personal pilot, to deliver the president to a US-controlled location.

After receiving permission from his superiors and Dominican authorities, Lopez and his team arranged to question the pilots at the airport. Each was interviewed separately, with Lopez saving the most important for last — Colonel Bitner Villegas, Maduro’s trusted aviator. Known for his discretion and loyalty, Villegas had flown both Hugo Chávez and Maduro across the globe, including to Iran, Russia and Cuba.

During their conversation, Lopez steered the discussion toward Maduro’s flights. As Villegas grew tense, the agent made his bold proposal: secretly fly Maduro to a location where he could be arrested, in exchange for immense wealth and recognition. Villegas remained noncommittal but handed Lopez his phone number before leaving — a small sign of possible interest.

The Venezuelan pilots later returned home without the jets, which the US eventually seized under sanctions laws. One of the aircraft was confiscated in September 2024 and another in February 2025, during Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to the Dominican Republic. Lopez briefed Rubio at the airport, describing the aircraft as a “treasure trove of intelligence,” containing data on Venezuelan air force operations. Caracas denounced the seizure as theft.

Even after his retirement in July, Lopez continued communicating with Villegas through encrypted apps, urging him to help bring down Maduro. He referenced a US Justice Department bounty that had risen to 50 million dollars for Maduro’s capture, texting the pilot, “I’m still waiting for your answer.” Villegas did not respond.

Frustrated, Lopez tried again weeks later, appealing to the pilot’s sense of patriotism and mentioning his children. The pilot dismissed him sharply, accusing the American of being a “coward” and insisting that Venezuelans were “not traitors.” Shortly afterward, he blocked Lopez’s number.

When it became clear that Villegas would not cooperate, Lopez and members of Venezuela’s opposition tried to use public pressure to unsettle Maduro. On the pilot’s 48th birthday, former US official Marshall Billingslea posted a mocking message on social media, attaching a photo of Villegas taken during his secret meeting with Lopez. Within minutes, Maduro’s aircraft abruptly turned back after taking off from Caracas, sparking speculation that the pilot had been detained.

Days later, Villegas appeared on a television program hosted by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, standing silently as Cabello praised his loyalty and mocked claims that Venezuela’s military could be bought.

The scheme to capture Maduro had failed, but it revealed the scope of Washington’s clandestine efforts to remove the Venezuelan leader and the lengths to which one determined agent was willing to go — even after retirement — to try to bring him down.