Published on •Mis à jour
US President Donald Trump announced that US forces had carried out an operation to eliminate the leader of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, whom he described as “one of the bloodiest terrorist organizations on the planet”.
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In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that the US Southern Command had conducted a “rapid and lethal kinetic strike” having allowed the killing of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as “Niño Guerrero”, leader and co-founder of the gang.
Its publication was accompanied by a short unclassified video showing the explosion of a building with a green roof.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strike took place earlier in the week and targeted a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela. According to him, the operation was carried out “en étroite coordination” with the security forces of Caracas.
Venezuela confirmed the death of “Niño Guerrero” during a “joint operation” with the United States.
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) of the United States describes the Tren de Aragua as a transnational criminal network born within the prison of Tocorón, Venezuela. According to the organization, the gang has between 2,500 and 5,000 members and is involved in kidnappings, extortion, human trafficking, drug trafficking as well as public displays of violence.
The group has been included on the US list of foreign terrorist organizations since February 2025.
In December 2025, Héctor Guerrero Flores was indicted in federal court in Manhattan for ordering, directing, and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the United States. The US State Department was offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.
In a press release published at the time, federal prosecutor Jay Clayton presented Guerrero Flores as the “brain” of the evolution of the Tren de Aragua from the status of a Venezuelan prison gang to that of a transnational criminal organization.
“Guerrero Flores ran the Tren de Aragua as a multinational crime syndicate, laundering money through cryptocurrencies, trafficking tons of drugs, selling weapons of war and orchestrating acts of terror across borders,” added Louis D’Ambrosio, head of the DEA’s special operations division.
