The US military has carried out an airstrike in Venezuela that killed the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang, according to an announcement by Donald Trump.
“At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero,” Trump wrote on social media.
Niño Guerrero, whose legal name is Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, was widely known as the long-time head of Tren de Aragua, one of Latin America’s most powerful criminal organisations.
The group has been designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the Trump administration.
Trump also shared video footage that appeared to show the strike, featuring a green building and a nearby shed being destroyed in an explosion that sent debris flying.
He said the operation was “coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well”.
Venezuelan authorities confirmed their involvement, describing it as a “joint operation”.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X that the strike targeted a Tren de Aragua facility in Venezuela earlier in the week.
Later, Venezuela’s communications ministry stated that Guerrero was killed in a “combined operation” with the US aimed at tackling organised crime in Bolívar state.
The US has long accused Guerrero and his network of expanding Tren de Aragua into a transnational criminal organisation involved in extortion, kidnapping, sex trafficking and contract killings across several Latin American countries.
According to US authorities, the group originated inside a Venezuelan prison system and later grew beyond national borders as economic conditions deteriorated in the country.
It is now believed to have operational presence in multiple countries, including the United States.
Guerrero himself had a long history of prison escapes and criminal influence. He previously broke out of custody after bribing a guard in 2012, was rearrested in 2013, and later transformed Tocorón Prison into a heavily controlled compound that reportedly included leisure facilities such as restaurants, a nightclub and even a zoo.
In 2023, Venezuelan forces stormed the prison in a major security operation, but Guerrero reportedly escaped again.
Venezuelan officials, including the administration of Nicolás Maduro and Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, have at various times been linked in US allegations to efforts targeting organised crime networks, though both have denied wrongdoing.
US operations against suspected cartel-linked maritime targets have also intensified in recent months.
The military says it has carried out numerous strikes on boats allegedly tied to drug trafficking, including vessels linked to Tren de Aragua, resulting in more than 200 deaths since September, according to US media reports.
However, no detailed evidence has been publicly released to confirm that the vessels destroyed were carrying drugs or armed combatants, prompting criticism from legal experts.
Some analysts argue the campaign may breach international law by carrying out lethal strikes without due process protections. The Trump administration maintains the actions are lawful.
In a statement to Congress last year, the White House said the president had “determined” that the US was in a formal armed conflict with drug cartels and that crews of drug-running boats were “combatants”.
