US kills Tren de Aragua leader with Venezuelan help

President Donald Trump announced that US forces killed a top leader of the Tren de Aragua gang with assistance from Venezuela.

The administration branded the group a global terrorist organization and a major drug-smuggling cartel.

Trump posted on his Truth Social site late Friday to confirm the execution of Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as Niño Guerrero.

He stated that the US Southern Command carried out the lethal strike at his direction.

Venezuela's government confirmed its involvement in the operation within the southeastern state of Bolivar.

Officials in Caracas said Flores died during clashes with members of criminal groups.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared details on X, noting the strike hit a Tren de Aragua site earlier in the week.

Hegseth emphasized that the action shows a shared commitment to stop narco-terrorists across the hemisphere.

The gang grew out of a notorious prison in Venezuela's Aragua state.

It now controls a vast network for drug trafficking and other crimes.

Tren de Aragua has roughly 7,000 members spread across South America and the United States.

The US labeled the group a terrorist organization in February 2025, shortly after Trump took office.

Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, Canada, and Trinidad and Tobago also designated it as a terror group.

Flores, 42, escaped from the Tocoron prison in 2023 just before police raided the facility.

He fled with other gang leaders and faced an in absentia racketeering charge in New York.

Washington claimed a series of strikes on small boats in the Pacific and Caribbean targeted the gang.

At least 207 people died in those operations.

Some families of the victims said the dead were fishermen, not gang members.

Legal scholars and rights groups widely consider these strikes illegal under US and international law.

They describe the actions as extrajudicial killings.

The Trump administration has used alleged gang connections to justify deporting some immigrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.

Trump has asserted without evidence that President Nicolas Maduro protects the group.

In January, US troops reportedly kidnapped Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores during a raid on their Caracas home.

Maduro now faces federal drug charges.