On October 27, 2025, Venezuela made a dramatic move that sent ripples across the Caribbean and beyond: the government revoked all energy agreements with its neighbor, Trinidad and Tobago. The reason? Trinidad and Tobago’s support for a U.S. military offensive in the region—a stance that has now brought potentially steep economic costs for the twin-island nation’s alliance with the Trump administration, according to Bloomberg.
This development is just the latest twist in a volatile saga involving U.S. efforts to unseat Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The backstory reads like a Cold War thriller: secret meetings, encrypted messages, high-stakes diplomacy, and a plot to capture one of Latin America’s most controversial leaders.
According to The Associated Press, it all began on April 24, 2024, when an informant walked into the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic. The tipster claimed to have information about Maduro’s private jets—information that would soon set off a chain of events involving Edwin Lopez, a seasoned federal agent and attaché at the embassy. Lopez, a former U.S. Army Ranger from Puerto Rico, was no stranger to high-risk operations, having spent years investigating international criminal networks in the Caribbean.
Lopez’s attention was piqued when he learned that two planes used by Maduro were undergoing repairs in the Dominican Republic. The repairs themselves, he realized, might violate U.S. sanctions against Venezuela, since they likely involved the purchase of American parts. Both jets—a Dassault Falcon 2000EX and a Falcon 900EX—were now prime targets for federal seizure.
After months of investigation, Lopez and his team traced the planes back to Maduro, discovering that five Venezuelan pilots had been dispatched to retrieve the jets. Among them was General Bitner Villegas, Maduro’s trusted chief pilot and a colonel in the Venezuelan air force. Villegas, known for his discretion and loyalty, was a key figure: he had flown both Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, to destinations as far-flung as Iran, Cuba, and Russia.
In a tense meeting inside an airport hangar, Lopez laid out his bold proposition to Villegas: secretly reroute Maduro’s plane to a location where U.S. authorities could apprehend the Venezuelan president. In exchange, the pilot would become “extremely wealthy and adored by millions of his fellow citizens,” Lopez promised, according to authenticated text exchanges reviewed by The Associated Press.
Villegas didn’t immediately accept the offer. But in a sign he might be open to further discussion, he handed Lopez his cell phone number before returning to Venezuela. Over the next 16 months, Lopez kept up the pressure, communicating with Villegas via encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. The agent’s persistence was fueled by a sense of unfinished business. As one exiled opposition leader put it, “He felt he had an unfinished mission to complete.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. government was ramping up its campaign against Maduro. After Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the administration took an even harder line. Over the summer of 2025, Trump ordered thousands of troops, attack helicopters, and warships into the Caribbean, ostensibly to target fishing vessels suspected of smuggling cocaine from Venezuela. In a series of ten operations—including some in the eastern Pacific—the U.S. military claimed at least 43 lives, as reported by The Associated Press.
Then, in a move that underscored Washington’s resolve, the Trump administration authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela. The U.S. also doubled its bounty for Maduro’s capture, raising the reward to $50 million. Lopez seized on this development, messaging Villegas on August 7, 2025: “I’m still waiting for your answer,” he wrote, attaching a Justice Department press release about the increased reward.
Despite these efforts, Villegas remained noncommittal. The U.S. did, however, manage to seize both of Maduro’s jets—one in September 2024 and the other in February 2025, the latter during Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first international trip. At a press conference, Lopez informed Rubio that the seized aircraft contained a “treasure trove of intelligence,” including the names of Venezuelan air force officers and details about the jets’ movements. The Maduro administration quickly denounced the seizures as “brazen theft.”
As the covert campaign dragged on, Lopez grew increasingly desperate. In September 2025, he noticed an unusual flight pattern from one of Maduro’s planes and reached out to Villegas again, this time from a different phone number. The conversation quickly soured, with Villegas accusing Lopez of being a “coward.” Lopez responded, “A little…” in what would be their final exchange. Moments later, Villegas blocked Lopez’s number.
But the psychological games didn’t stop there. On September 18, 2025, Marshall Billingslea—a former national security official aligned with Venezuela’s opposition—publicly taunted Villegas on X (formerly Twitter) with a mocking birthday message and photos designed to unsettle both the pilot and Maduro’s inner circle. The post went viral, sparking a flurry of speculation on Venezuelan social media. Some wondered if Villegas had been summoned for questioning or even imprisoned. For several days, the pilot vanished from public view.
When Villegas finally reappeared, it was on a Venezuelan TV show hosted by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. Standing silently in his air force flight suit, Villegas raised a clenched fist as Cabello praised him as an “unfailing, kick-ass patriot.” The message was clear: the regime wanted to project unity and squash any rumors of betrayal within its ranks.
All the while, the geopolitical fallout continued to escalate. Venezuela’s decision to revoke energy deals with Trinidad and Tobago—announced just days after these dramatic events—underscored the high stakes of regional alliances. As Bloomberg noted, Trinidad and Tobago’s support for the U.S. military offensive in the Caribbean has now come with a hefty price.
The story of Lopez, Villegas, and the failed plot to capture Maduro offers a window into the shadowy world of international intrigue and the lengths to which governments will go to protect their interests—or unseat their adversaries. As the dust settles, one thing is clear: the struggle for power in Venezuela, and the Caribbean at large, is far from over. The consequences of these maneuvers will likely reverberate for years to come, shaping alliances, economies, and the fate of leaders on both sides of the conflict.
