Venezuela says leader of Tren de Aragua gang killed in 'joint operation' with US
US President Donald Trump said Friday that a “swift and lethal kinetic” US strike has killed Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, whom he called “the infamous leader” of the Tren de Aragua gang.
Tren de Aragua has been labelled by the United States as a terrorist organisation. Guerrero Flores was charged in a New York federal court with racketeering conspiracy and other crimes, including lending support to terrorists in crimes that stretched more than a decade, authorities announced in December.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that the strike occurred earlier in the week on a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela.
US Attorney Jay Clayton said at the time that the gang is responsible for countless acts of violence, extortion and drug trafficking in North America, South America and Europe. Trump nominated Clayton on Thursday to be director of national intelligence.
The US State Department had offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to Guerrero Flores' arrest.
Read more Tren de Aragua mastermind charged in US federal court with racketeering, drug charges
In a post on his social media site, Trump wrote, “Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else and, under my leadership, we will find these vicious murderers and drug lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong.” Trump's post referred to Guerrero Flores by his alias, “Niño Guerrero”.
The post also included unclassified video, shot from above, of a small building with a green roof exploding.
Hegseth said, “The operation underscores the shared US and Venezuelan commitment to take the fight to narco-terrorists and deny them any safe haven in our hemisphere.”
Read more 'A show of strength': Trump's war on drugs with Venezuela
Venezuela's government released a statement confirmed its participation in the operation and revealed it took place in the southeastern state of Bolivar.
“During the operation, clashes occurred with members of criminal groups, resulting in the death of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias 'Niño Guerrero,' the leader of one of these criminal organisations,” according to the statement.
The mineral-rich state, which borders Brazil and Guyana, is home to large illegal mining operations long controlled by gangs and other actors who often mine with the consent – and to the benefit – of officials and members of the military.
Trump has alleged that the gang was the target of a series of lethal air strikes on small boats his administration has accused of smuggling drugs to America. At least 207 people have been killed in boat strikes by the US military in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.
Trump and administration officials have consistently blamed Tren de Aragua for being at the root of the violence and illicit drug dealing that plague some US cities. The president spent months repeating the claim – contradicted by a declassified US intelligence assessment – that Tren de Aragua had operated under Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's control. The US seized Maduro in an armed raid in January to face US drug charges.
Read more Cocaine, corruption and machine guns: A look at the charges against Venezuela's Maduro
Tren de Aragua originated more than a decade ago at an infamously lawless prison with hardened criminals in Venezuela's central state of Aragua. The gang has expanded in recent years as millions of Venezuelans migrated to other Latin American countries or the US in search of better living conditions.
Guerrero Flores returned to the prison in Aragua for murder and other convictions in 2013, when Venezuela's crisis began as a global drop in crude prices along with mismanagement and corruption wrecked the oil-dependent economy. Guerrero Flores and a few other inmates saw a profitable opportunity as the government neglected prisons.
They assumed control and administration of the prison, establishing a system that controlled the entire inmate population through force and extortion. Over time, they transformed the facility into a sort of city that included a zoo, baseball field, casino and restaurants. Guerrero Flores had his own lavish suite.
The size of the gang is unclear. Countries with large populations of Venezuelan migrants, including Peru and Colombia, have accused the group of being behind a spree of violence in the region. Still, unlike other criminal organisations from Colombia, Central America and Brazil, Tren de Aragua has no large-scale involvement in smuggling cocaine across international borders, according to InSight Crime, a think tank that tracks crime across Latin America.
In Venezuela, gang leaders have long been known to participate in various illegal activities, including gold mining and drug trafficking.
In March, US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told reporters during a visit to Venezuela that the government of acting President Delcy Rodriguez was giving security assurances to mining companies interested in investing in the South American country.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)