Fallen Archive
Nicolás Maduro
Ruled Venezuela for 13 years before being captured by US forces in January 2026.
Nicolás Maduro became president of Venezuela in 2013 following the death of Hugo Chávez, whose movement, Chavismo, he continued while presiding over an economic collapse in which GDP shrank by an estimated 80 percent and millions of Venezuelans emigrated. He was widely regarded internationally as having stolen the 2024 presidential election from opposition candidate Edmundo González, with independent tallies showing González winning by a wide margin.
On 3 January 2026, US forces launched Operation Resolve, a military raid on Caracas that captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, transporting them to New York to face narco-terrorism and drug-trafficking charges, as detailed in Wikipedia's account of the intervention. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president two days later. Maduro pleaded not guilty and remains in US federal custody awaiting trial.