US strike kills leader of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, White House says

President Donald Trump on Friday said U.S. forces carried out a strike that killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, also known as Niño 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 Organizations on Planet,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Friday evening.

“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 neutralized.

The operation involved specialized 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 organization 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 organization.

Trump has claimed Tren de Aragua coordinated its U.S. activities with the Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration has cited the alleged connection to justify deporting some immigrants in the U.S. 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 organized 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.

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周五表示，美军发动袭击，炸死了委内瑞拉监狱帮派“阿拉瓜列车”的头目赫克托·鲁斯滕福德·格雷罗·弗洛雷斯（又名尼诺·格雷罗）。

“在我的指示下，美国南方司令部迅速而致命地发动了一次动能打击，成功处决了臭名昭著的阿拉瓜列车头目尼诺·格雷罗，阿拉瓜列车是地球上最嗜血的恐怖组织之一，”特朗普周五晚上在 Truth Social 上发帖写道。

“这次行动是与我们在委内瑞拉的朋友密切协调的，我们与他们合作得非常愉快。”

五角大楼负责人皮特·赫格塞斯在X网站上发帖称，此次袭击发生在本周早些时候，格雷罗“已被证实死于袭击中”。

委内瑞拉新闻部表示，行动期间与犯罪团伙成员发生冲突，团伙头目格雷罗被击毙。

该部表示，此次行动涉及专门的技术支持，并通过两国当局之间的合作和情报共享进行。

特朗普政府曾多次对格雷罗和其他“阿拉瓜列车”组织的领导人实施制裁，指控他们参与非法毒品走私、人口贩运和洗钱等犯罪活动。

美国国务院已将阿拉瓜火车组织（Tren de Aragua）列为外国恐怖组织。

特朗普声称，阿拉瓜铁路公司与委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗领导的政府协调了其在美国的活动。特朗普政府以此为由，将部分在美国的移民遣返回萨尔瓦多的一所最高安全级别监狱。

阿拉瓜火车公司因参与人口贩运而臭名昭著，它控制着委内瑞拉人和其他南美移民前往相对富裕的智利以及南美或欧洲其他目的地的路线。

拉丁美洲警方官员表示，该团伙还与从巴拿马到巴西以及沿安第斯走廊的敲诈勒索、绑架、洗钱、雇凶杀人、走私和有组织的零售盗窃活动有关。

2023 年，就在警方突袭之前，格雷罗与其他帮派头目一起从委内瑞拉托科隆监狱越狱。