Trump announces the killing of Niño Guerrero, head of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua
US and Venezuelan authorities announced Friday, June 12, the killing of the head of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua. Nino Guerrero, the leader of the group, was indicted by a New York court in 2025.
Niño Guerrero/PHOTO: Government of Venezuela
In a new sign of the recent resumption of cooperation between Washington and Caracas, the death of Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias Nino Guerrero (“Warrior Child”), was made public by US President Donald Trump and then confirmed by the Venezuelan government, writes Agepres.
“On my order, the United States Southern Command conducted a swift and lethal military strike that successfully eliminated Niño Guerrero, the notorious leader of the Tren de Aragua, one of the bloodiest terrorist organizations on the planet,” Trump tweeted on Truth Social.
He accuses former President Joe Biden of “opened the country's southern border to millions of illegal criminals and allowed this foreign military to rape, maim and kill American citizens with impunity.”
“Early in my term, I kept my promise to designate Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization, deport thousands of dangerous criminals, and declare war on the cartels, which have long waged war on our citizens while weak leaders have left America helpless and on the defensive.
This operation was closely coordinated with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we collaborate very well. As a result, the Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have a safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else, and under my leadership we will find these criminals and drug traffickers wherever they are and send them to the depths of hell where they belong.”
The US State Department also offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
“Guerrero Flores was the mastermind behind the evolution of the Tren de Aragua, which went from a gang of Venezuelan prisoners to a transnational terrorist organization,” said US Attorney Jay Clayton when the indictment was announced.
This joint operation is yet another example of rapprochement between Washington and Caracas since the capture of Nicolas Maduro. In March, the two countries resumed diplomatic relations, which had been severed in 2019, and the United States is in the process of reopening its embassy in Caracas.
In parallel, Donald Trump is gradually relaxing sanctions against Venezuela, which has adopted new laws on hydrocarbons and the mining sector, opening these sectors to private investment in a country with the largest oil reserves in the world.
Nino Guerrero, aged 42, was indicted by a New York court in 2025, along with 69 other alleged members of Tren de Aragua, one of the most important criminal organizations in Latin America, for ordering, directing and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the United States.
Tren de Aragua, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, was formed in 2014 in the Venezuelan state of Aragua, located west of the capital Caracas. According to intelligence reports, it later spread to eight South American countries.
The organization is accused of human trafficking, murder, kidnapping, theft, drug trafficking, extortion and even illegal mining, while controlling legal businesses.
