President Donald Trump on Friday announced that the US army had eliminated Niño Guerrero, the leader of the Tren De Aragua criminal organization, which is based out of Venezuela.
Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, his social media platform, where he also shared a chilling video showing the moment the US army carried out strikes on a compound where Guerrero was presumably located.
“At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren De Aragua, one of the most bloodthirsty Terrorist Organizations on Planet Earth,” the Republican commander-in-chief wrote.
“Before I returned to office, Joe Biden opened our Southern Border to millions of Illegal Criminals, and allowed this foreign army to rape, maim, and murder American Citizens with total impunity. During my Campaign, I pledged to expel these monsters from our Country, and bring Justice to the families of those they slaughtered, including the precious 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, 22-year-old Laken Reilly, and countless other beautiful souls,” he added, in a jibe to his Democratic predecessor.
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Trump further said “With this action, the United States Military has brought retribution for them, their families, and their loved ones. Early in my Administration, I delivered on my promise to designate Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, deport thousands of evil criminals, and wage war against the Cartels, who have long been waging war against our Citizens, while weak leaders left America helpless and defensive. This action was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well.”
The POTUS also said “As a result, 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 drugs lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong.”
Notably, Trump’s action against the Tren De Aragua head comes after the US army entered Venezuela on his orders and captured their president Nicolas Maduro, along with his wife, who were then flown back to the US to face indictment.
Here’s all you need to know about Niño Guerrero, the Tren De Aragua leader.
Niño Guerrero: 5 things to know about Tren De Aragua leader
- Guerrero’s real name is Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores.
- Guerrero was born in Maracay, Venezuela on May 30, 1983.
- The State Department noted that Guerrero had spent many years incarcerated at the Tocorón Prison in Aragua State of Venezuela. This is when he’s believed to have expanded Tren De Aragua’s influence from ‘extorting prison inmates and bribing prison guards to assuming the overall control of the Tocorón prison as well as the control of gold mines in Bolivar State, drug corridors on the Caribbean coast, as well as control of some of the clandestine border crossings between Venezuela and Colombia’, the State Department noted.
- In 2025, Guerrero was charged with ordering, directing, and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the US and acting in concert with Cartel De Los Soles, as per a DOJ release.
- Guerrero had a reward offer of up to $5 million for information that might lead to his capture. He 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’, the DOJ release noted. ‘He ran this empire from prison, shielded by corruption, and in collaboration with a narco-state cartel intent on flooding the United States with cocaine,’ the release further said.
Tren De Aragua had started off as a prison gang before becoming a transnational criminal organization under Guerrero. Trump had categorized the gang as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and positioned its dismantling as a top national security and immigration priority, claiming that they’d invaded and plagued US cities.
