The reported capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces has reignited global debate over sovereignty, international law and the limits of American power abroad.
While the detention of a sitting foreign leader is rare and controversial, history shows that the United States has, on a few defining occasions, directly captured or removed foreign leaders through military or covert action.
These episodes, spanning more than a century, have often reshaped regional politics and left lasting diplomatic and legal consequences.
Below are five notable foreign leaders who were captured or forcibly removed with direct U.S. involvement.
1. 1901 — Emilio Aguinaldo (Philippines)
Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the Filipino independence movement, was captured during the Philippine–American War in a covert U.S. military operation. Although he was not a president in the modern constitutional sense, Aguinaldo headed a rival government and symbolised Filipino resistance to American rule.
His arrest effectively crippled organised opposition and marked a defining moment in early U.S. colonial expansion, underscoring Washington’s growing imperial ambitions at the turn of the 20th century.
2. 1990 — Manuel Noriega (Panama)
Panama’s military ruler, Manuel Noriega, was seized during Operation Just Cause, the U.S. invasion of Panama in late 1989. Once a CIA asset who later fell out with Washington, Noriega surrendered after U.S. forces surrounded his refuge.
He was flown to the United States, tried in a federal court on drug trafficking and racketeering charges, and sentenced to prison. Noriega’s case remains one of the clearest examples of the U.S. treating a foreign leader as a criminal defendant within its domestic legal system.
3. 2003 — Saddam Hussein (Iraq)
Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, former President Saddam Hussein was captured in December 2003 near Tikrit, hiding in an underground bunker. His arrest marked the symbolic collapse of the Ba’athist regime that had ruled Iraq for decades.
Saddam was later handed over to Iraqi authorities, tried by an Iraqi court for crimes against humanity and executed in 2006. The case stands as one of the most legally formalised detentions of a former head of state following U.S. military intervention.
4. 2004 — Jean-Bertrand Aristide (Haiti)
The removal of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide remains one of the most disputed U.S. interventions of the modern era. Amid an armed uprising and political unrest, U.S. forces escorted Aristide onto a plane and flew him out of Haiti.
Washington described the move as a protective evacuation to prevent bloodshed, while Aristide later claimed he was forcibly removed, calling it a “kidnapping.” Although debate continues over whether he was technically captured, the United States undeniably controlled his departure from power.
5. 2026 — Nicolás Maduro (Venezuela)
In one of the most controversial operations in recent history, U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a military raid in Caracas on January 3, 2026. The operation, announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, also resulted in the arrest of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores.
The pair were transported to New York to face longstanding charges, including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking, stemming from a 2020 U.S. Department of Justice indictment. Maduro pleaded not guilty, describing himself as a “prisoner of war.”
While the Trump administration defended the action as a necessary response to global narcotics threats, critics argue it violates international law and undermines the principle of state sovereignty.
Together, these cases highlight how U.S. actions against foreign leaders have repeatedly tested the boundaries of international norms, often leaving enduring political and diplomatic fallout long after the arrests themselves.
