A federal agent had a daring plan: persuade Nicolas Maduro's chief pilot to surreptitiously divert the Venezuelan president’s plane to a place where U.S. authorities could nab the strongman.

A U.S. federal agent attempted to bribe Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s chief pilot to divert the leader’s plane for capture in a covert operation spanning 16 months, according to a new report from the Associated Press.

In the final year of President Donald Trump’s first administration, the CIA carried out a clandestine cyberattack against the Venezuelan government, disabling the computer network used by Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s intelligence service.

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro claims the U.S. is waging a war against him as the world's largest warship nears the country

Even with U.S. warships offshore, the strongman has prevailed in efforts to unseat him—purging, spying and paying off officers so the armed forces remain loyal.

Venezuela has 5,000 Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles in “key air defense positions,” its President Nicolás Maduro claimed on Wednesday, amid growing tension over the United States’ military deployment in the Caribbean.

A federal agent had a daring plan: persuade Nicolas Maduro’s chief pilot to surreptitiously divert the Venezuelan president’s plane to a place where U.S. authorities could nab the strongman.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro offered the U.S. his country's oil riches. For Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that wasn't enough.