Maduro narco case echoes US playbook of focusing on alleged overseas drug kingpins

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In a surprising army operation performed within the early morning hours on Saturday, the US captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro , alongside along with his spouse Cilia Flores, to face federal expenses stemming from their alleged involvement within the drug commerce and sustaining a dictatorship inside the nation.

For months, President Donald Trump had urged Maduro to step down from his function because the nation’s chief – in what has been broadly considered as an illegitimate place – whereas accusing him of supporting drug cartels which were designated as terror organizations by the U.S.

In response to U.S. officers, the Division of Justice requested army help in apprehending Maduro after he – and later his spouse, son, two political figures and an alleged worldwide gang chief – had been indicted on federal terrorism, medication and weapons expenses in 2020.

Whereas questions have swirled concerning the legality of the Trump administration's actions, the U.S. has beforehand launched related operations focusing on overseas dictators and suspected drug kingpins.

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President Donald Trump shared a photograph of captured President Nicolas Maduro aboard the united statesIwo Jima after strikes on Venezuela, on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Fact Social/@realDonaldTrump)

Here's a take a look at different cases by which U.S. officers took purpose at a few of the world’s most infamous leaders accused of being instantly concerned in a few of the most prolific drug operations throughout the globe.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro addresses supporters throughout a rally marking the anniversary of the Nineteenth-century Battle of Santa Ines in Caracas on Dec. 10, 2025. (Pedro Rances Mattey/Anadolu through Getty Photos)

The conviction of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega In 1990, 36 years to the day of Maduro’s seize, the U.S. arrested Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, beneath related circumstances.

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Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega at a ceremony commemorating the loss of life of nationwide hero Omar Torrijo in Panama Metropolis. (Invoice Gentile/Corbis/Corbis through Getty Photos)

Noriega initially rose to energy in 1983, and was lengthy considered as an informant for the U.S. to supply data concerning drug trafficking within the area. Working as a paid CIA collaborator for the reason that Nineteen Seventies, Noriega allowed the U.S. to arrange listening posts in Panama, whereas additionally permitting pro-American assist to funnel by means of Panama to El Salvador and Nicaragua.

Nevertheless, beneath the nostril of U.S. officers, Noriega shaped "the hemisphere's first narcokleptocracy," a Senate subcommittee report mentioned, calling him "the most effective instance in current U.S. overseas coverage of how a overseas chief is ready to manipulate the US to the detriment of our personal pursuits," according to Reuters.

He reportedly labored alongside infamous drug cartel chief Pablo Escobar to funnel cocaine into the U.S., whereas additionally facilitating the motion of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in drug money by means of Panama’s banks, which led to him receiving giant quantities of kickbacks.

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Former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, pictured on this Jan. 4, 1990, file photograph. (Reuters/HO JDP)

One 12 months earlier than his arrest, a federal grand jury handed down a 12-count indictment in opposition to Noriega, successfully clearing the trail for President George H. W. Bush to deploy 1000's of U.S. troops to Panama in an operation titled, "Simply Trigger." Noriega confronted federal drug trafficking and cash laundering expenses.

As U.S. troops moved in on the nation’s capital and army headquarters, Noriega sought refuge on the Vatican’s embassy whereas, in keeping with a preferred rumor, dressed as a lady.

Noriega was finally compelled to give up on Jan. 3, 1990, and was later sentenced to 40 years in a Florida jail. After 17 years behind bars, he was extradited to France and later Panama, the place he died in 2017.

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Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández’s arrest In 2022, three months after leaving workplace, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was arrested on the request of U.S. officers at his residence in Tegucigalpa on expenses of working alongside drug traffickers to move over 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., according to The Related Press.

Following his arrest, Hernández was extradited to the U.S. to face trial for his alleged crimes.

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Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez speaks through the opening ceremony of the U.N. Local weather Change Convention in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 1, 2021. (Andy Buchanan/AP)

U.S. officers alleged the disgraced chief had collaborated with drug cartels since 2004, accepting thousands and thousands of {dollars} in bribes as his political profession escalated from rural congressman to president of the Nationwide Congress to Honduras’ highest workplace.

Throughout his trial in Manhattan federal court , Hernández testified that whereas drug cash was paid to just about all political events in Honduras, he didn't settle for bribes whereas in workplace. He maintained that he was a sufferer of vengeful drug traffickers in search of retribution after he aided of their extradition to the U.S., whereas additionally working alongside three presidential administrations to restrict drug imports into the nation.

Hernández was subsequently convicted by a jury in March 2024, with a federal choose sentencing him to 45 years in a U.S. jail and issuing an $8 million positive.

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Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, second from proper, is taken in handcuffs to a ready plane as he's extradited to the US, at an Air Drive base in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on April 21, 2022. (Elmer Martinez/AP)

Nevertheless, after serving simply 17 months of his sentence, Hernández was pardoned by Trump in late 2025.

"The individuals of Honduras actually thought he was arrange, and it was a horrible factor," Trump mentioned. "They principally mentioned he was a drug seller as a result of he was the president of the nation. They usually mentioned it was a Biden administration setup – and I appeared on the info and I agreed with them."

After Trump introduced Hernández’s pardon, Honduran Legal professional Normal Johel Zelaya mentioned in a put up to social media that his workplace was wanting into bringing expenses in opposition to the previous president, however didn't specify what crimes officers have been investigating.

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Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s trial and responsible verdict In 2017, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the infamous chief of Mexico’s "Sinaloa cartel ," was extradited to the U.S. to face trial on drug trafficking and associated crimes in a number of district courts all through the nation.

The infamous crime boss evaded seize on a number of events and escaped from Mexican jail twice, with federal prosecutors revealing Guzman used quite a lot of artful techniques to smuggle tons of cocaine into the U.S. through the Nineties and early 2000s.

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Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman when he was extradited from Mexico to the U.S. (AP)

Former cartel member Miguel Angel Martinez testified in federal court docket that the gang used vans to hold 3,000 cans crammed with cocaine over the U.S.-Mexico border, whereas estimating the autos carried 25 to 30 tons of cocaine price $400 million to $500 million into the nation every year, according to The Related Press.

After the earnings would arrive in Tijuana, Guzman would ship his three non-public jets on a month-to-month foundation to select up the money – with every aircraft carrying roughly $10 million again residence.

Following his landmark federal trial in Brooklyn, Guzman was sentenced to life in jail – tacking on one other jail sentence after an earlier responsible verdict on drug-trafficking expenses resulted in a compulsory sentence of life with out parole. A choose additionally ordered Guzman to pay $12.6 billion in ill-gotten proceeds stemming from his empire constructed on drug trafficking and homicide.

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Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted by troopers throughout a presentation in Mexico Metropolis, Jan. 8, 2016. (Reuters/Tomas Bravo/File Picture)

A defiant Guzman used his closing moments within the public highlight to blast the choose for not granting him a brand new trial following unsubstantiated allegations of juror misconduct.

"My case was stained and also you denied me a good trial when the entire world was watching," Guzman mentioned by means of an interpreter.

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Guzman is about to reside out his days behind bars within the federal authorities’s Supermax jail, positioned in Florence, Colorado , the place detainees are saved in solitary confinement for as much as 23 hours a day.

"Because the authorities will ship me to a jail the place my title is not going to ever be heard once more, I take this chance to say there was no justice right here," Guzman mentioned at his sentencing.

The Related Press contributed to this report.

Julia Bonavita is a U.S. Author for Fox Information Digital and a Fox Flight Crew drone pilot. You'll be able to observe her at @juliabonavita13 on all platforms and ship story tricks to julia.bonavita@fox.com.