Trump says a US strike killed Niño Guerrero, leader of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang
Key takeaways
- Venezuela's government confirmed hours later the death of the criminal boss, which occurred in Bol var state, in the country's southeast.
- The two accounts differ on the role of the United States.
- Southern Command described Guerrero Flores, 43, as a fugitive.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday night that his country's Southern Command had killed, in a swift and lethal strike, H ctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias Ni o Guerrero, whom he described as the leader of Tren de Aragua, one of the most bloodthirsty terrorist organizations on the planet. Venezuela's government confirmed hours later the death of the criminal boss, which occurred in Bol var state, in the country's southeast.
The two accounts differ on the role of the United States. Trump said the operation was coordinated closely with Venezuela, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held that US forces struck a Tren de Aragua compound. The Venezuelan statement, by contrast, defined it as a combined operation between security agencies of both countries, based on technological cooperation and intelligence sharing; Venezuelan sources said there was never a US military presence on their territory during the attack. Trump accompanied his announcement with a video, not independently verified, in which a projectile hits a building that erupts in flames.
Southern Command described Guerrero Flores, 43, as a fugitive. Considered the leader of Venezuela's most powerful criminal gang, he ran the organization for more than a decade from the Tocor n prison, in Aragua state, which he turned into a fiefdom with a swimming pool, nightclub and zoo. He escaped in 2012 and, after being recaptured, was serving a sentence when, in September 2023, the Venezuelan government took the prison with 11,000 personnel; the boss had already fled and his whereabouts had been unknown since. The United States designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025, and the group is a central focus of Trump's immigration and deportation policy. Chile had also been seeking him since 2023.