Gang chief Flores had managed the huge felony syndicate from Venezuela for years.
Revealed On 13 Jun 2026
President Donald Trump has mentioned US forces have killed an “notorious chief” of Tren De Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that the administration has branded a world “terrorist” organisation and drug-smuggling cartel.
“At my path, america Southern Command delivered a swift and deadly kinetic strike to efficiently execute Niño Guerrero,” Trump mentioned in a publish on his Fact Social web site late on Friday, referring to gang chief Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores.
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Trump added that the operation was in collaboration with Venezuela.
In a press release, Venezuela’s authorities confirmed it participated within the operation within the southeastern state of Bolivar, stating that Flores was killed throughout “clashes with members of felony teams”.
US Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a publish on X, mentioned the strike had occurred earlier within the week, concentrating on a Tren de Aragua website in Venezuela.
“The operation underscores the shared US and Venezuelan dedication to take the struggle to narco-terrorists and deny them any secure haven in our hemisphere,” he posted.
Tren de Aragua originated from a infamous jail within the Venezuelan state of Aragua, from the place it managed an unlimited drug trafficking and felony community.
The group has some 7,000 members unfold throughout South America and the US. It was labelled a terrorist organisation by the US in February 2025, early on in Trump’s administration.
Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, Canada and Trinidad and Tobago have additionally labelled it a terror group.
Gang chief Flores, 42, escaped from the Tocoron jail in Venezuela together with different gang leaders simply earlier than a police raid in 2023.
He was charged in absentia in a New York courtroom in December for racketeering conspiracy, lending assist to terrorists and different crimes.
Washington has claimed a sequence of strikes on small boats within the Pacific and Caribbean had been concentrating on the gang. At the least 207 individuals have been killed. Members of the family of a few of these killed mentioned they had been fishermen.
The Trump administration has additionally cited connections to the gang to justify deporting some immigrants to a maximum-security jail in El Salvador.
Trump has mentioned with out proof that the group operated underneath Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s safety.
In January, US troops kidnapped Maduro and First Girl Cilia Flores in a raid on their dwelling in Caracas. Maduro now faces federal drug prices.
