MOSCOW, FACTBOX. /TASS/. On January 3, 2026, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured by fighters of the elite Delta force unit of the US army. According to experts, it is highly likely that preparatory measures were carried out by the American special services, including operational work among the personnel of the presidential security agencies. Maduro is not the first head of a sovereign state to be captured by the US military.
In 2004, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deported from the country. He led Haiti in 1991, 1994-1996 and was again elected head of state in 2001. In early 2004, the opposition accused him of corruption, and anti-government protests began. Opponents of the president formed the Front for the Liberation of Haiti, which occupied all major cities. On February 29, Aristide was detained by US military and taken to the Central African Republic on an American military plane. Canada and France were involved in his transfer. Aristide described himself as "a victim of a coup d'etat or a modern-day abduction." He was in exile first in the Central African Republic, then in South Africa. In March 2011, despite Washington's protests, he returned to his homeland, but did not participate in political life.
