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US President Donald Trump said US forces carried out an operation to eliminate the leader of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which he called “one of the most bloodthirsty terrorist organizations on planet Earth”.
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In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States Southern Command had conducted a “swift and lethal kinetic strike” to take out Hector Guerrero Flores, the gang’s leader and cofounder, who is also known as Niño Guerrero.
Trump’s post included a short, unclassified video showing a building with a green roof exploding.
Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of War, said the strike occurred earlier this week and targeted a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela. US forces worked “in full collaboration with Venezuelan security forces,” he added.
The US’s National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) describes Tren de Aragua as a transnational gang network that has its roots in Venezuela’s Tocorón Prison.
The gang has between 2,500 and 5,000 members and is involved in kidnappings, extortion, human and drug trafficking and public displays of violence, per the NCTC.
It has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US since February 2025.
Flores was charged in a Manhattan federal court in December with ordering, directing, and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the US. The US State Department had offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to Flores’ arrest.
In a press release at the time, US Attorney Jay Clayton called Flores the “mastermind” behind the gang’s growth.
“Guerrero Flores operated Tren de Aragua like a multinational crime syndicate—laundering money through cryptocurrency, trafficking drugs by the ton, selling weapons of war, and orchestrating acts of terror across borders,” DEA special agent Louis D’Ambrosio added.
