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|align=center|[[André Kolingba]] ||align=center| [[Central African Republic]] ||align=center| 1981–1993 || <small>Chairman of the Military Committee of National Recovery 1981-1985; President of the Central African Republic 1985-1993. Gained power in a coup; persecuted opposition; allowed (and lost) free elections in 1993. Attempted second coup in 2001.</small>

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|align=center|[[Paul Biya]] ||align=center| [[Cameroon]] ||align=center| '''1982–present''' || <small>He served under President Ahmadou Ahidjo and became Prime Minister in 1975. Ahidjo resigned on November 6, 1982 and Biya became president. After years of totalitarian rule, he allowed the creation of opposition parties in 1990 but his re-elections have been marked by widespread fraud and intimidation.</small>

| align=center|[[Justo Rufino Barrios]] || align=center|[[Guatemala]] || align=center|1873–1885 || <small>President of Guatemala. Gained power in a bloody coup, but introduced reforms.</small>

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| align=center|[[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]] || align=center|[[El Salvador]] || align=center|1931–1934<br>1935–1944 || <small>Acting President 1931-1934; President of El Salvador 1935-1944. Gained power in a coup; suppressed opposition; oversaw massacre of between ten and forty thousand suspected opponents. Presided over ''[[1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising|La Matanza]]'' in 1932, a massacre (genocide) of communists, suspected communists, [[campesinos]] and [[Pipil]] Indians (see [http://countrystudies.us/el-salvador/7.htm]).</small>

| align=center|[[Daniel Ortega]] || align=center|[[Nicaragua]] || align=center|1979–1990<br/>'''2006–present''' || <small>Came in power by a coup, with his Leftist [[Sandinista]]s. Hold false elections.</small>

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| align=center|[[Rafael Reyes]] || align=center|[[Colombia]] || align=center|1904–1909 || <small>President 1904 - 1909, as a military ruler representing the Conservatives. "In the course of his regime, Reyes improved the country’s finances, expanded roads and railroads, and encouraged increased coffee production. Large U.S. investments and purchases of coffee and minerals contributed to Colombia’s economic growth. However, Reyes ruled as a dictator. He dissolved the congress and replaced it with a handpicked legislature, jailed and exiled political opponents, and declared martial law." (''Colombia'', [[Encarta|Microsoft Encarta]] 2003)</small>

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| align=center|[[Óscar Benavides]] || align=center|[[Peru]] || align=center|1914–1915 <br> 1933–1939 ||<small> Junta Chairman 1914; President of Peru 1914-1915, 1933-1939. Twice gained power by coup.</small>

| align=center|[[Raoul Cédras]] || align=center|[[Haiti]] || align=center|1991–1994 || <small>''De facto'' ruler for a relatively short period of time. Gained power in a coup (see [http://www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org/infamous.htm]).</small>

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| align=center|[[Saddam Hussein]] || align=center|[[Iraq]] || align=center|1979–2003 || <small>Pressured Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr to resign in 1979 and formally became president. Repressive; developed extensive personality cult; deposed by [[United States]] and coalition forces in an invasion.</small>

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| align=center|[[Bashar al-Assad]] || align=center|[[Syria]] || align=center|'''2000–present''' || <small>No opposition permitted in election following death of his father; widely described as a dictator (see [http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110007449], [http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP92405], [http://www.freeman.org/m_online/feb04/pasko.htm]).</small>

|align=center|[[Mao Zedong]] || align=center|[[People's Republic of China]] || align=center|1949–1976 || <small>Chairman of the PRC (1949–1959), Chairman of the [[Communist Party of China]] (1945–1976), Chairman of the [[Central Military Commission]] (1936–1976). Immense cult of personality; purged members of government; silenced opposition. Circumvented Communist Party hierarchy after the 1966 [[Cultural Revolution]]; imprisoned head of state [[Liu Shaoqi]]. Millions of Chinese citizens killed or murdered as a result of his policies and repression. Militant atheist.</small>

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| align=center|[[Park Chung Hee]] || align=center|[[South Korea]] || align=center|1961–1979 || <small>Took power in 1961 coup. Although initially welcomed by much of the population, he suspended the constitution in 1971 and introduced a new constitution that greatly increased his power.</small>

| align=center| [[Benito Mussolini]] || align=center| [[Italy]] || align=center|1922–1943, and in part of the country 1943–1945 ||<small> Prime Minister of Italy 1922-1943; head of the so-called [[Italian Social Republic]] until 1945. "He introduced strict censorship and altered the methods of election so that in 1925–1926 he was able to assume dictatorial powers and dissolve all other political parties" (see [http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=active&q=cache:0PFM13qC39YJ:www.ablongman.com/history_rh_bridge/assets/0321025865_ch15.pdf+%22Italian+dictator+Benito+Mussolini%22],[http://doi.contentdirections.com/mr/greenwood.jsp?doi=10.1336/0275979377]).</small>

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| align=center| [[Aleksandar Tsankov]] || align=center| [[Bulgaria]] || align=center|1923–1926 || <small>Established right-wing nationalist, anti-communist coup against [[Stamboliyski]]’s democratic elected [[Agrarians]]. Forced out of power by Tsar [[Boris III]]. [http://www.bartleby.com/65/ts/TsankovA.html]. </small>

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| align=center| [[Ahmet Bej Zogu]] || align=center| [[Albania]] || align=center|1925–1939 || <small>Originally elected Prime Minister of Albania 1922-1924 and 1925; President of Albania 1925-1928; crowned himself King of the Albanians (as Zog I) 1928-1939. Described as a dictator (see [http://www.albanian.com/information/history/independ.html], [http://www.diplom.org/manus/talossa/?lingo=&page=Statute&act=25RZ13], [http://www.electionworld.org/history/albania.htm]). Forced to flee with his wife, Queen Geraldine, the imminent takeover of the country by Italy under [[Benito Mussolini]].</small>

| align=center| [[Kurt Schuschnigg]] || align=center| [[Austria]] || align=center|1934–1938 || <small>Chancellor of Austria. Maintained his predecessor Dollfuss' oppressive rule.</small>

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| align=center| [[Francisco Franco]] || align=center| [[Spain]] || align=center|1936–1975 || <small>Prime Minister of Spain 1938-1975 and Head of State 1939 - 1975 (in the Nationalist Zone, both only to 1939). Purged opposition; often referred to as a dictator or ''caudillo'' (see [http://www.policyreview.org/jun03/diamond.html], [http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=active&q=cache:B1Mmefo38twJ:www.personal.psu.edu/mlb300/spainsocprob.pdf+%22dictator+Francisco+Franco%22],[http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=active&q=cache:NsfbKjiVUowJ:www.acad.carleton.edu/curricular/POSC/faculty/montero/Spain%2520Paper%25201.pdf+%22dictator+Francisco+Franco%22], [http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=active&q=cache:9ZzXaMENcm8J:www.artcult.org/cst/spain_prepack_participants.pdf+%22Francisco+Franco%22+%22dictatorship%22]). Strongly supported by the [[Roman Catholic Church]] worldwide.</small>

| align=center| [[Nicolae Ceauşescu]] || align=center| [[Romania]] || align=center|1965–1989 ||<small> General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party, 1965-1989; President of Romania, 1974-1989. Leader of single-party Communist state; extensive personality cult developed during the 1970s. Lived lavish lifestyle while country was still using donkey carts.</small>

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| align=center| [[Marcelo Caetano]] || align=center| [[Portugal]] || align=center|1968–1974 || <small>Prime Minister of Portugal 1968 - 1974; Upon the death of [[António de Oliveira Salazar]] he continued the dictatorial regime. Some liberties were improved but the situation of the country and the [[Portuguese Colonial War|colonial wars]] lead to the [[Carnation Revolution]].</small>