The Pentagon said the operation to hunt down the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang was conducted together with the Venezuelan authorities
The US has said it killed a notorious gang leader in a strike on his compound in Venezuela.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation targeting Tren de Aragua leader Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as Nino Guerrero, was carried out earlier this week in full coordination with the Venezuelan authorities.
Hegseth said the operation “underscores the shared US and Venezuelan commitment to take the fight to narco-terrorists and deny them any safe haven in our hemisphere.”
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“Guerrero was a wanted fugitive charged by the US Department of Justice with ordering, directing, and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the United States,” US Southern Command chief General Francis Donovan said.
US President Donald Trump hailed the operation as part of his effort to combat violent crime in the US.
“This action was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Guerrero was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2018 on charges including murder, drug trafficking, identity theft, and possession of military-grade weapons, but escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 2023.
Earlier this year, the US carried out a commando raid in Caracas, abducting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were indicted by a Manhattan court on drug and firearms charges. Both pleaded not guilty, and the Venezuelan government condemned the operation as an act of aggression.
Since September 2025, US strikes on alleged cartel boats in the Caribbean have killed more than 200 people. Venezuelan and Colombian officials called the operations illegal, saying some of the victims were innocent fishermen.
