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The reported capture of the Venezuelan president recalls previous eras when other leaders were captured by the United States.
That of President Donald Trump claim that the United States captured his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro and his wife amid “large-scale” attacks on Venezuela, he said. dizzy the world.
Venezuela’s Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, said the government does not know the whereabouts of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
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In an audio message broadcast on state television on Saturday, Rodriguez said the government was demanding proof that Maduro and Flores are still alive.
The rapid escalation follows repeated deadly strikes by U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean against what Washington claims are drug trafficking boats, as well as an attack on a docking area for alleged Venezuelan drug boats.
Maduro’s reported capture recalls previous eras when other leaders, such as former Panama military leader Manuel Noriega and former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, were captured by the United States.
Manuel Noriega
In another direct intervention in Latin America, the The United States invaded Panama in 1989 to remove military and de facto leader Manuel Noriega, citing protection of American citizens in Panama, undemocratic practices, corruption and drug trafficking.
Before attacking Panama, the United States indicted Noriega for drug trafficking in Miami in 1988, just as it targeted Maduro.
Noriega forced Nicolas Ardito Barletta to resign in 1985, canceled the 1989 elections, and supported anti-American sentiment in the country before the operation took place.
The U.S. incursion into Panama was at the time the largest U.S. combat operation since the Vietnam War. The U.S. government offered various justifications for the operation, such as improving the plight of Panamanians by taking Noriega to the United States to face drug trafficking charges.
However, when the general began to show signs of less complacency toward American regional designs, he was made persona non grata by Washington.
He was tried on the Miami indictment after being flown to the United States and was imprisoned there until 2010, when he was extradited to France to face another trial. France then sent him back to Panama a year later.
Noriega died in prison in Panama in 2017, where he was serving time for his crimes.
Saddam Hussein
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces on December 13, 2003, nine months after the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq began, based on false intelligence that Baghdad possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Like Noriega, Saddam had been a key ally of Washington for yearsin his case, during the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s that killed a million people.
The United States also made baseless claims in the build-up to the 2003 war that Saddam supported armed groups like al-Qaeda.
However, no weapons of mass destruction have ever been found in the country.
Saddam was found hiding in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit.
He was tried by an Iraqi court and was sentenced to death, leading to his execution by hanging for crimes against humanity on December 30, 2006.
Juan Orlando Hernandez
The case of Honduras Hernández demonstrates what some observers view as a hypocritical approach by the United States.
Hernández was captured at his home in Tegucigalpa during an operation by U.S. agents and Honduran forces in February 2022 – just days after leaving his post as president of his country.
In April 2022, he was extradited to the United States for his alleged involvement in corruption and drug trafficking, and in June of the same year he was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
However, Hernández was pardoned by US President Donald Trump on December 1, 2025.
A few days later, the Attorney General of Honduras issued an international arrest warrant for Hernandez, intensifying legal and political unrest just days after the ex-leader was released from a U.S. prison.
