Under the U.S. Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program, a reward of up to $5 million was offered for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores (a.k.a. “Niño Guerrero”), the leader of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TdA).
Building on that standing bounty and the Southern District of New York’s December 18, 2025, indictment charging him with racketeering conspiracy, material support to terrorists, cocaine importation, and firearms offenses, President Trump announced late Friday that U.S. Southern Command had eliminated Niño Guerrero in a targeted strike.
In a Truth Social post Friday evening, Trump stated: “At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren De Aragua, one of the most bloodthirsty Terrorist Organizations on Planet Earth.”
Guerrero Flores was facing multiple charges in Manhattan federal court, including racketeering conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists, cocaine importation conspiracy, and firearms offenses involving possession of machine guns and destructive devices.
Prosecutors described him as the mastermind behind Tren de Aragua’s evolution into a terrorist organization responsible for violence, extortion, and drug trafficking across the Americas.
The gang’s network in the United States expanded significantly, with operations involved in drug trafficking, extortion, human smuggling, racketeering, sex trafficking, kidnappings, and violent crime in cities across multiple states. The $5 million U.S. reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction highlighted the severity of the threat.
Graphic courtesy of the Texas Department of Public Safety, September 16, 2024 presentation.
Tren de Aragua originated in the early 2010s in Tocorón, a notorious prison in Venezuela’s Aragua state. What began as a prison gang evolved into a sophisticated criminal network involved in drug trafficking, extortion, human smuggling, racketeering, and violence across Latin America and into the United States.
In the United States alone, they have been linked to over 100 crimes and ongoing investigations, including cases of brutal violence that have shocked communities nationwide.
Among the most devastating cases are the brutal rape and murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston in June 2024 by two Venezuelan suspects with alleged ties to the gang, and the murder of nursing student Laken Riley in Georgia in February 2024 by a Venezuelan national with reported connections to the organization.
Tragedies like these have shattered families, left communities in grief, and laid bare the human cost of unchecked gang violence brought into the country through illegal immigration.
These incidents, alongside others involving human smuggling, sex trafficking, extortion, street violence, and organized crime, have devastated families, strained law enforcement resources, and amplified demands for stronger border enforcement to dismantle these gangs.
The Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February 2025, enabling intensified enforcement actions. The operation, described by the President as a “swift and lethal kinetic strike,” took place in coordination with Venezuelan authorities and targeted the gang’s leader at a compound in Venezuela.
As the Trump administration intensifies its campaign to hunt down remaining Tren de Aragua (TdA) leadership and eradicate its operatives embedded across the United States, the brutal reality of the terror this Venezuelan gang has unleashed on American soil cannot be ignored.
TdA members have been linked to horrific acts of violence such as murders, kidnappings, extortion, drug trafficking, and targeted killings that have shattered communities from Colorado and North Carolina to New York and beyond, preying especially on vulnerable migrants while spreading fear, chaos, and narcotics addiction.
Over the coming years, U.S. authorities are poised to accelerate the dismantling of TdA networks across the country. Federal, state, and local agencies are expected to build on improved threat assessments, aggressive prosecutions, enhanced cross-border cooperation, and other targeted measures to disrupt these criminal operations.
This sustained effort under President Trump reflects a clear national security priority of placing American safety, border sovereignty, and the rule of law at the forefront in the fight against cartels and terrorist organizations. Americans deserve communities free from this imported violence, and the current trajectory offers steady, determined progress toward restoring that security.
