{"id":4406,"date":"2026-06-13T11:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T11:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/06\/13\/trump-says-u-s-military-strike-killed-leader-of-tren-de-aragua-gang\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T11:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T11:57:15","slug":"trump-says-u-s-military-strike-killed-leader-of-tren-de-aragua-gang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=4406","title":{"rendered":"Trump says U.S. military strike killed leader of Tren de Aragua gang"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n The Americas<\/a>
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Trump says U.S. military strike killed leader of Tren de Aragua gang<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

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\n The Associated Press
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\"President<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n President Donald Trump is pictured during an event where he signs a proclamation about the fishing industry, in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Washington.
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\n Jacquelyn Martin\/AP
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\n Jacquelyn Martin\/AP
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WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump said Friday that a “swift and lethal kinetic” U.S. strike has killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, whom he called “the infamous leader” of the Tren de Aragua gang.<\/p>\n

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Politics <\/a><\/h3>\n

Federal judge says U.S. must give due process to deported Venezuelans<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Tren de Aragua 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.<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that the strike occurred earlier in the week on a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The U.S. State Department had offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to Guerrero Flores’ arrest<\/p>\n

In a post on his social media site, Trump wrote, “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.” Trump’s post referred to Guerrero Flores by his alias, “Ni\u00f1o Guerrero.”<\/p>\n

The post also included unclassified video, shot from above, of a small building with a green roof exploding.<\/p>\n

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National Security <\/a><\/h3>\n

With ‘drug boat’ strikes, Trump leans into war on terror tactic against cartels<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Hegseth said, “The 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.”<\/p>\n

Venezuela’s ministry of communications did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the operation.<\/p>\n

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 “narcoterrorists” in early September.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 contradicted by a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment \u2014 that Tren de Aragua had operated under Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro’s control. The U.S. whisked Maduro out of Venezuela to face U.S. drug charges in January.<\/p>\n

Tren de Aragua originated more than a decade ago at an infamously lawless prison with hardened criminals in Venezuela’s 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.<\/p>\n

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Venezuela and U.S. relations <\/a><\/h3>\n

What are the charges against Venezuela’s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro?<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Guerrero Flores returned to the prison in Aragua for murder and other convictions in 2013, when Venezuela’s 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.<\/p>\n

They assumed control and administration of the prison, establishing a system that controlled the entire inmate population through force and extortion. Over time, they transformed the facility into a sort of city that included a zoo, baseball field, casino and restaurants. Guerrero Flores had his own lavish suite.<\/p>\n

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 a spree of violence in the region. 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.<\/p>\n

In Venezuela, gang leaders have long been known to participate in various illegal activities, including gold mining.<\/p>\n

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, immigration remains Trump’s strongest issue, according to the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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