TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The leader of the notorious Tren de Agua gang, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, has been killed in a US strike in Venezuela, US President Donald Trump said on Friday.
The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Tren de Aragua of being behind much of the violence and drug dealing in many US cities.
Venezuela has confirmed the death of Guerrero Flores, saying he was killed during a "joint operation" with the US in the southeastern state of Bolivar.
What did the Trump administration say about Guerrero Flores' death?
Trump said the US had carried out a "swift and lethal kinetic" strike to kill Guerrero Flores, whom he called "the infamous leader” of the Tren de Aragua gang.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that "Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else and, under my leadership, we will find these vicious murderers and drug lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that the strike was carried out earlier in the week on one of the gang's compounds in Venezuela.
Rewards of up to $5 million (€4.32 million) had been offered by the US State Department for information that led to Guerrero Flores' arrest.
Venezuela's Ministry of Communications has confirmed the death in a statement about the operation at the compound.
"There were clashes with members of these criminal structures, in which Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias 'Nino Guerrero,' was neutralized," it said.
What is Tren de Aragua?
Tren de Aragua came into being more than 10 years ago at a prison in Venezuela's central state of Aragua, where Guerrero Flores and other inmates took over control and administration as the country's economic crisis led to a neglect of jails.
Their power over the prison was such that they were able to turn the facility into a city-like structure with its own zoo, baseball field, casino and restaurants.
The gang then expanded transnationally as millions of Venezuelans emigrated in search of a better life.
Several countries, including Peru and Colombia, have accused the group of being behind rising violence in the region.
Guerrero Flores himself had racketeering, drug and firearms charges filed against him New York in December.
US targeting of Tren de Aragua
The Trump administration has also heavily targeted the gang, among other things with strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean on small boats it says are smuggling drugs to the US.
Trump has in the past claimed that the gang operated under the control of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the US forcibly extracted from Venezuela in January to face drug charges.
However, a declassified US intelligence assessment has contradicted that claim.
Read: Indonesia Resumes Oil and Gas Operations in Venezuela
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