Trump says US military strike killed leader of Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua

US President Donald Trump on June 12 said US forces carried out a strike that killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, also known as Nino Guerrero, the leader of Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua.

“At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Nino Guerrero the infamous leader of Tren de Aragua, one of the most bloodthirsty Terrorist Organisations on Planet,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on the evening of June 12.

“This action was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well.”

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted on X that the strike was conducted earlier this week and that Guerrero “was confirmed killed during the strike”.

Venezuela’s information ministry said that during the operation there were clashes with members of criminal groups, in which the leader, Guerrero, was neutralised.

The operation involved specialised technological support and was carried out through cooperation and intelligence-sharing between authorities of both countries, the ministry said.

The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted Guerrero and other leaders of the Tren de Aragua organisation with sanctions over alleged involvement in criminal activities such as illicit drug smuggling, human trafficking and money laundering.

The State Department has designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organisation.

Trump has claimed Tren de Aragua coordinated its US activities with the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro. The Trump administration has cited the alleged connection to justify deporting some immigrants in the US to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.

Tren de Aragua is known for being involved in human trafficking and controls routes taken by Venezuelans and other South American migrants heading south to relatively prosperous Chile and other destinations in South America or Europe.

The group has also been linked to extortion, kidnapping, money laundering, contract killings, smuggling and organised retail theft from Panama to Brazil and along the Andean corridor, Latin American police officials say.

Guerrero escaped from the Tocoron prison in Venezuela along with other gang leaders just before a police raid in 2023. REUTERS