U.S. forces killed the leader of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang in a military strike carried out in coordination with Venezuelan security services, President Donald Trump announced Friday night, marking one of the most significant blows yet to a transnational criminal organization the administration has designated a terrorist group.

Trump announced the killing of Hector “El Nino” Guerrero on Truth Social, saying the strike was “coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well.”

“At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Nino Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren de Aragua,” Trump wrote

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later confirmed on X that the strike was conducted earlier in the week in collaboration with Venezuelan security forces, targeting a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela. Venezuela’s communications ministry confirmed the killing, saying Guerrero died during a “combined operation” between U.S. forces and Venezuelan security services targeting organized crime in the country’s Bolivar state, and that the operation involved intelligence sharing and specialized technical support.

The CIA provided intelligence for the operation, according to a senior administration official.

Gen. Francis Donovan, commander of U.S. Southern Command, confirmed the joint operation had targeted a Tren de Aragua compound.

Guerrero Flores, 43, was known by multiple aliases, including “Nino Guerrero,” “The Unspeakable,” and “The Big Eyebrow.” He was credited with transforming Tren de Aragua from a Venezuelan prison gang into a transnational operation with reach across much of Latin America, the United States, and as far as Spain.

Guerrero Flores was indicted late last year in federal court in the Southern District of New York on charges that included racketeering, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and cocaine conspiracy. The State Department had offered up to $5 million for information leading to his capture.

Prosecutors allege that Guerrero Flores initially ran Tren de Aragua from inside Tocorón Prison, directing gang members on the outside and collecting a share of their criminal proceeds. He escaped in 2012 and was rearrested a year later. He was sentenced to a 17-year term in 2018 but escaped again in 2023 and remained at large until this week.

SDNY U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton described Guerrero Flores as “the mastermind of Tren de Aragua’s evolution from a Venezuelan prison gang into a transnational terrorist organization that committed countless acts of violence, extortion, and drug trafficking all over North America, South America, and Europe.” Trump nominated Clayton on Thursday to serve as director of national intelligence.

Tren de Aragua originated as a prison gang in Venezuela in the mid-2000s and has since expanded across Latin America and several U.S. cities, with the organization focused on trafficking, human smuggling, and drug distribution.

The cooperation with Caracas marks a sharp realignment in the U.S.-Venezuela relationship. Hegseth described the operation as a sign of a shared U.S. and Venezuelan commitment to deny narco-terrorists any safe haven in the hemisphere.

Trump’s post included video, shot from above, showing a projectile striking a small building with a green roof, causing it to erupt in flames.

Trump framed the strike as “retribution” for what he characterized as the deaths of American citizens at the hands of individuals he claimed were Tren de Aragua members. “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,” he wrote.

The strike is part of a broader military campaign targeting drug cartels that has resulted in more than 200 people killed in strikes on vessels accused of narcotics smuggling in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. That campaign has drawn criticism from some lawmakers, legal experts, and human rights groups who have questioned its legal basis.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)