WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President Donald Trump said Friday that a 鈥渟wift and lethal kinetic鈥� U.S. strike has killed H茅ctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, whom he called 鈥渢he infamous leader鈥� of the gang.
has been labeled by the United States as a terrorist organization. Guerrero Flores was charged in a New York federal court with racketeering conspiracy and other crimes, including lending support to terrorists in crimes that stretched more than a decade, authorities announced in December.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that the strike occurred earlier in the week on a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said at the time that the gang is responsible for countless acts of violence, extortion and drug trafficking in North America, South America and Europe. Trump nominated Clayton on Thursday to be director of national intelligence.
The U.S. State Department had offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to Guerrero Flores鈥� arrest.
In a post on his social media site, Trump wrote, 鈥淭ren 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.鈥� Trump’s post referred to Guerrero Flores by his alias, 鈥淣i帽o Guerrero.鈥�
The post also included unclassified video, shot from above, of a small building with a green roof exploding.
Hegseth said, 鈥淭he operation underscores the shared U.S. and Venezuelan commitment to take the fight to narco-terrorists and deny them any safe haven in our hemisphere.鈥�
Venezuela’s government released a statement confirmed its participation in the operation and revealed it took place in the southeastern state of Bolivar.
鈥淒uring the operation, clashes occurred with members of criminal groups, resulting in the death of H茅ctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias 鈥楴i帽o Guerrero,鈥� the leader of one of these criminal organizations,鈥� according to the statement.
The mineral-rich state, which borders Brazil and Guyana, is home to large illegal mining operations long controlled by gangs and other actors who mine with the consent 鈥� and to the benefit 鈥� of officials and the military.
Trump has taken a series of extraordinary actions against the gang, including a series of strikes on small boats his administration has accused of smuggling drugs to America. At least 207 people have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls 鈥渘arcoterrorists鈥� in early September.
Trump and administration officials have consistently blamed Tren de Aragua for being at the root of the violence and illicit drug dealing that plague some U.S. cities. The president spent months repeating the claim 鈥� 鈥� that Tren de Aragua had operated under Venezuelan President Nicol谩s Maduro鈥檚 control. The U.S. whisked Maduro out of Venezuela to face U.S. drug charges in January.
Tren de Aragua originated more than a decade ago at an infamously lawless prison with hardened criminals in Venezuela鈥檚 central state of Aragua. The gang has expanded in recent years as millions of Venezuelans migrated to other Latin American countries or the U.S. in search of better living conditions.
Guerrero Flores returned to the prison in Aragua for murder and other convictions in 2013, when Venezuela鈥檚 crisis began as corruption, mismanagement and a drop in crude prices wrecked the oil-dependent economy. Guerrero Flores and a few other inmates saw a profitable opportunity as the government neglected prisons.
They assumed control and administration of the prison, establishing a system that controlled the entire inmate population through force and extortion. Over time, into a sort of city that included a zoo, baseball field, casino and restaurants. Guerrero Flores had his own lavish suite.
The size of the gang is unclear. Countries with large populations of Venezuelan migrants, including Peru and Colombia, have accused the group of being behind . Still, unlike other criminal organizations from Colombia, Central America and Brazil, Tren de Aragua has no large-scale involvement in smuggling cocaine across international borders, according to InSight Crime, a think tank that tracks crime across Latin America.
In Venezuela, gang leaders have long been known to participate in various illegal activities, including gold mining and drug trafficking.
The legal mining of gold and other minerals is a component of the Trump administration’s phased plan to turn the crisis-wrecked country around. In March, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told reporters during a visit to Venezuela that the government of was giving security assurances to mining companies interested in investing in the South American country.
Trump campaigned for a second term promising to crack down on immigration and crime. While polls show his favorability ratings have sagged on his handling of the economy, according to the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
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Associated Press writer Regina Garcia Cano in Mexico City contributed.
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