US Tried to Flip Maduro's Pilot in a Secret Sting

The US recently tried to recruit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's top pilot to help capture the embattled leader, according to an in-depth report by the AP. The plan began when an informant approached the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic, claiming to have information about planes used by Maduro. Edwin Lopez, a Homeland Security agent and former Army Ranger, took the lead. He questioned the pilots sent to recover the jets and, during a tense private conversation, made his pitch to Gen. Bitner Villegas: to secretly deliver Maduro to a location where US agents could make an arrest and, in exchange, become a wealthy man. Villegas didn't commit to the plan, but he gave Lopez his phone number.

The untold, intrigue-filled saga of how Lopez tried to flip the pilot has all the elements of a Cold War spy thriller—luxury private jets, a secret meeting at an airport hangar, high-stakes diplomacy, and the delicate wooing of a key Maduro lieutenant. There was even a final machination aimed at rattling the Venezuelan president about the pilot's true loyalties. Over the next 16 months, Lopez—who retired during this time—continued to contact Villegas through encrypted apps, urging him to switch sides. Lopez's efforts, which included offering a $50 million reward and appeals to Villegas' sense of history, ultimately went nowhere. Villegas rebuffed the overtures, and after a final exchange, he blocked Lopez.

The US then pivoted to psychological tactics, with allies of Venezuela's opposition using social media to stoke suspicion about Villegas' loyalty. The campaign generated a flurry of speculation in Venezuela, but Villegas soon appeared on a state television show hosted by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. Cabello laughed off any suggestion that Venezuela's military could be bought. As he praised Villegas' loyalty, calling him an "unfailing, kick-ass patriot, " the pilot stood by silently, raising a clenched fist in a display of his loyalty.

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The scheme reveals the extent—and often slapdash fashion—to which the US has for years sought to topple Maduro, whom it blames for destroying the oil-rich nation's democracy while providing a lifeline to drug traffickers, terrorist groups, and communist-run Cuba. Much more on the plot here.