Capture d’écran X (@StateINL)
The gang chef sold by Tren de Aragua, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, is here for the American army. (photo by son avis de de recherche)
This is a new sign of the recent resumption of cooperation between Washington and Caracas. The head of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua, whose head had been put on a price by the American administration, was killed during a joint operation with the United States in southern Venezuela, the two countries announced on Friday June 12. The death of Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, aka Niño Guerrero (« enfant guerrier »), was made public by Donald Trump then confirmed by the Venezuelan government.
“As part of a combined operation†with the United States, “structures of organized crime” ont été démantelées, a écrit dans un communiqué le ministère vénézuélien des Communications., “Clashes took place with members of these criminal structures, during which Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias Niño Guerrero, was neutralized.”he added.
The Tren de Aragua, considered by the United States as a terrorist organization, was formed in 2014 in the Venezuelan state of Aragua, located west of the capital Caracas. According to intelligence reports, it then spread to eight South American countries. “U.S. Southern Command conducted a swift and lethal strike to eliminate Niño Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren de Aragua.”Donald Trump wrote earlier on his Truth Social platform.
« Train of Aragua no longer has refuge in Venezuela or elsewhere »
The tenant of the White House added that the operation had been carried out “en étroite coordination” with Venezuela, led by interim president Delcy Rodriguez since the capture of Nicolas Maduro by the United States in January. “The Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have refuge in Venezuela or anywhere else”trumpeted the American president, accompanying his publication with a ten-second video showing an aerial view of a building with a green roof surrounded by vegetation, before an explosion caused a thick cloud of smoke.
Niño Guerrero, who was 42 years old, was indicted by a court in New York in 2025 along with 69 other alleged members of the Tren de Aragua, one of the main criminal organizations in Latin America, for having ordered, directed and facilitated acts of terrorism and violence in the United States. The US State Department offered a five million dollar reward for information leading to his capture.
“Guerrero Flores was the mastermind behind the evolution of the Tren de Aragua from a Venezuelan prison gang to a transnational terrorist organization.”declared federal prosecutor Jay Clayton when announcing the indictment. The organization is accused of human trafficking, assassinations, kidnappings, theft, drug trafficking, extortion and even illegal mining, while also controlling well-established legal activities.
A passage in a prison… equipped with a discotheque
In September 2023, the Maduro government claimed to have « totalement démantelé » the gang after the army took over the Tocorón prison, controlled by the gang. According to a 2025 Insight Crime Analysis Center report, “Niño Guerrero” had done the Tren de Aragua “What he is today during his incarceration in Tocorón”.
Under his leadership, Tocorón “has become one of the country’s most infamous prisons, largely due to the Venezuelan government’s unofficial policy of handing over control of some prisons […] “Criminal leaders known as pranes”. Still according to the Insight Crime report, “This freedom and the gang’s criminal income allowed the construction of a zoo, a swimming pool, a playground, a restaurant and a nightclub inside the prison.”.
This joint operation constitutes a new example of the rapprochement between Washington and Caracas since the capture of Nicolas Maduro. In March, the two countries resumed diplomatic relations, broken in 2019, and the United States is in the process of reactivating its embassy in Caracas. At the same time, Donald Trump is gradually easing sanctions against Venezuela, which has adopted new laws on hydrocarbons and the mining sector, opening these sectors to the private sector in a country with the largest oil reserves in the world.
