[News] Venezuela: Failed US Plot to Kidnap President Maduro by Attempting to Co-opt his Pilot Revealed

[Anti-Imperialist News]

orinocotribune.com
<https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-failed-us-plot-to-kidnap-president-maduro-by-attempting-to-co-opt-his-pilot-revealed/>
Venezuela: Failed US Plot to Kidnap President Maduro by Attempting to
Co-opt his Pilot RevealedOctober 30, 2025
------------------------------

[image: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's pilot General Bitner Villegas
during a military drill at Paseo Los Proceres, Caracas, on September 20,
2025. Photo: X/@EnverConde.]

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's pilot General Bitner Villegas during
a military drill at Paseo Los Proceres, Caracas, on September 20, 2025.
Photo: X/@EnverConde.

Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com <https://orinocotribune.com/>)—An intelligence
agent from the US empire has been caught attempting to co-opt an airplane
pilot working for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in order to kidnap
him, according to an Associated Press report
<https://apnews.com/article/dhs-plan-capture-maduro-pilot-planes-7915d5a0819ceb518a8ca2b47da8b2e5>
.

The report details how a US Homeland Security Investigations agent,
identified as Edwin Lopez, approached the Venezuelan pilot after learning
in 2024 that two private jets frequently used by President Maduro were
being repaired in the Dominican Republic. Lopez told the pilot to divert a
flight carrying the Venezuelan president to a site where he could be
kidnapped by US operatives, offering a multimillion-dollar reward and even
threatening his children.

The pilot, identified as Venezuelan military aviation officer then-Colonel
(now General) Bitner Villegas, did not betray the Chavista leader, despite
the pressure he was facing. According to the AP report, signed by Joshua
Goodman, Lopez stayed in touch with Villegas for at least 16 months.
Villegas remained noncommittal but continued to exchange messages with the
agent for more than a year, even after Lopez retired in July 2025,
something very common in counter-intelligence operations.

The US regime has tried countless failed operations, first to oust
President Hugo Chávez and now President Maduro. Over the last two decades,
the White House has used narratives involving coup d’états, interim
presidents, guerrilla involvement, and so-called “Islamic terrorism,” along
with human rights and environmental accusations, in order to destabilize
the Bolivarian Revolution.

More broadly, the revelations come as the US steps up military and
intelligence pressure on Caracas to unprecedented levels. The Trump
administration has authorized the CIA to conduct lethal covert operations
inside Venezuela, and has deployed warships, aircraft, and almost 10,000
troops to the Caribbean for a new and reloaded “war on drugs.”

The US regime placed a Department of Justice bounty on the Venezuelan
president from $15 million to $25 million in January. In August, a few days
before the announcement of the controversial US military deployment in the
Caribbean Sea, the bounty was raised to $50 million. Numerous analysts have
pointed out that this is another regime change attempt to destabilize
Venezuela, a major producer of oil.

Far-right actors in both Venezuela and the US have demanded for years that
the bounty on President Maduro’s head to be raised to US$100 million in
order to make a mercenary operation against the Venezuelan president
viable, leading to the infamous mercenary boss Erik Prince making public
claims <https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1963265407273279764> for this on
social media in mid-2024.

In recent months, the Trump regime has accused President Maduro of being a
drug trafficker, the head of the almost extinct Tren de Aragua criminal
gang, defeated thanks to the civic-military union of Venezuela, and the
entirely fictional Cartel of the Suns, in addition to alleged connections
with México’s Sinaloa Cartel. No evidence has been presented to support any
of these far-fetched allegations.

Separately, US military strikes on small boats in the Caribbean and the
Pacific have so far murdered 57 civilians off the coasts of Venezuela,
Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Colombia. Both US and international
experts label the military strikes as extrajudicial killings.

*Intelligence vs. counter-intelligence*
AP’s Joshua Goodman has been denounced for years as a mouthpiece for the US
empire’s department of war. For that reason, many analysts consider his
recent “report” as another piece of the ongoing US regime change operation
against President Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution, attempting to throw
loyal Venezuelan soldiers into disrepute entirely fictitiously, in order to
present a narrative of instability targeting the sovereign nation.

Almost four weeks ago, Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello
denounced
<https://orinocotribune.com/venezuelas-interior-minister-busts-fake-news-about-desertions-by-army-generals/>
fake news circulating about the alleged desertion of high-ranking Army
commanders, among them being General Villegas. During his televised
program *Con
El Mazo Dando* last Wednesday, September 24, Cabello refuted the rumors
about the alleged desertion of Division General Pedro Rafael Suárez and
Battalion General Bitner Javier Villegas. According to the rumors, the
former had fled to Trinidad and Tobago, while others claimed both were in
New York.

This was proven the next day, when both Venezuelan military commanders were
seen actively participating in defensive drills organized in Venezuela to
respond to a potential US military aggression. They also joined Minister
Cabello during his weekly program.

For this reason, many analysts consider that the AP/Goodman “report” is
just another piece in the puzzle of US psychological and intelligence
operations against Chavismo and the leadership of Venezuela.

Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
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