WASHINGTON - One of the top leaders of Tren de Aragua, a cartel and US-designated terrorist organization, has been killed in a US military strike, President Donald Trump said Friday. Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as Niño Guerrero, was credited with transforming a Venezuelan prison gang into a transnational operation with tentacles stretching through large swathes of Latin America, the United States and even across the Atlantic to Spain.
Details of the Strike
Guerrero, who was listed as a most wanted fugitive by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was killed in “a swift and lethal kinetic strike,” Trump announced Friday evening on Truth Social. His post included a video showing a green roofed building disappearing under a cloud of billowing smoke caused by a massive explosion. The president said the strike was “coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well.”
Joint Operation with Venezuela
It was conducted earlier this week in collaboration with Venezuelan security forces, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth later added on X. Venezuela’s government said the joint operation involved intelligence sharing and specialized technical support. The CIA provided intelligence for the operation, per a senior administration official.
“During the operation, clashes occurred with members of these criminal structures, resulting in the death of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias “Niño Guerrero,” the leader of a criminal organization,” the country’s communications ministry said in a statement. US Southern Command Commander Gen. Francis Donovan said the joint operation had targeted “a Tren de Aragua compound,” in a statement on X.
Background of Tren de Aragua
The Tren de Aragua gang was founded inside Tocorón prison in Venezuela’s Aragua state, from which it draws its name. The gang controlled the prison – even building a swimming pool and restaurants inside until the Venezuelan government reclaimed it in October 2023. But Guerrero, then meant to be an inmate, wasn’t found and had been on the run since.
US Reward and Charges
The US State Department offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture in late 2024. Then in December, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged Guerrero with ordering, directing and facilitating acts of terrorism within the US. At the time, US Attorney Jay Clayton described him as the “mastermind of Tren de Aragua’s evolution from a Venezuelan prison gang into a transnational terrorist organization.”
