Besides Maduro, Here Are Other Presidents Captured by the U.S.

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January 6, 2026 | 04:34 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the United States has dominated international headlines over the past few days. Yet this is far from Washington's first instance of capturing foreign heads of state.

Maduro now joins a small group of presidents captured by the U.S., a list that includes former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Iraq’s former President Saddam Hussein, and several others. While such cases remain exceptional in international politics, they underscore a pattern of U.S. intervention that drew strikingly divided reactions over questions of sovereignty, legality, and accountability.

List of Presidents Captured by the U.S. Besides Nicolás Maduro

1. Jean-Bertrand Aristide - Haiti

In 2004, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was not technically arrested by the United States but was removed from power amid an armed uprising in Haiti. According to Diario AS, Haiti’s first democratically elected president was escorted by U.S. forces onto a plane and flown out of the country. While the White House described the move as a protective evacuation, Aristide himself later characterized it as a “kidnapping.”

2. Saddam Hussein - Iraq

Nine months after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, President Saddam Hussein was captured by the U.S. forces in December 2003. He was found hiding near his hometown of Tikrit in an underground shelter. Despite having been a Washington ally for years, Saddam Hussein was later tried by an Iraqi court and executed in 2006 by hanging for crimes against humanity. This later ended his brutal regime of Ba’athist.

3. Manuel Noriega - Panama

Manuel Noriega was captured by U.S. forces during the 1989 invasion of Panama. According to ABC, the operation involved around 27,000 U.S. troops, along with stealth aircraft and gunships. Noriega was accused of crimes including drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering, which later led him to be taken to the United States to stand trial.

4. Juan Orlando Hernandez - Honduras

Shortly after leaving office, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was arrested in 2022. The BBC reported that US prosecutors described him as a key figure in an 18-year drug-trafficking operation that allegedly funneled more than 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. He was then sentenced to 45 years in prison by a U.S. court, before being pardoned by President Donald Trump on December 1, 2025.

5. Emilio Aguinaldo - Philippines

One of the earliest presidents arrested by the U.S. was Emilio Aguinaldo in 1901. Captured during the Philippine-American War, his arrest stemmed from Washington’s refusal to recognize the sovereignty of the Southeast Asian nation and his legitimacy as its president. Ultimately, the arrest led Aguinaldo to swear allegiance to the United States and withdraw from public life, as noted by the National Museum of American History.

Each capture of a president by the United States occurred under distinct geopolitical circumstances. While some were carried out through formal legal channels, others have often been perceived as contested interventions. In this context, the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has also been argued by a University of Indonesia law expert who says it violates international law.

Read: Expert Warns Rising US-Venezuela Tensions Could Disrupt Energy Supply, Global Logistics

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