Overview
- Associated Press reviewed encrypted texts showing ex-HSI agent Edwin López pursued Venezuela’s chief presidential pilot, Gen. Bitner Villegas, for roughly 16 months after meeting him in a Santo Domingo hangar in 2024.
- Lopez proposed subtly rerouting Maduro’s aircraft to a location for a U.S. arrest—floated options included the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico or Guantánamo—while promising wealth and protection.
- Villegas rebuffed the offer, replying that Venezuelans were not traitors, and later blocked López; after online speculation in mid-September, he reappeared on Venezuelan TV presented as loyal by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
- The outreach began after an informant reported two Venezuelan presidential jets undergoing repairs in the Dominican Republic; U.S. authorities later seized those aircraft for sanctions violations.
- U.S. agencies declined substantive comment as some officials, speaking anonymously, called the move López’s initiative, while Venezuela demanded explanations and publicized separate claims of foiling CIA schemes near Trinidad and Tobago.