President Donald Trump said that U.S. forces carried out a strike that killed Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as Niño Guerrero, the leader of the cartel Tren de Aragua.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he ordered U.S. Southern Command to conduct what he described as a “swift and lethal kinetic strike” against Guerrero, whom he called the head of one of the world’s most violent criminal groups.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strike took place earlier this week and targeted a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela. Venezuela’s government also acknowledged Guerrero’s death, describing it as the result of a joint operation against organized crime in Bolívar state that relied on intelligence sharing and technological cooperation. Venezuelan officials said there was no U.S. military presence on the ground during the operation.
Trump said the action was carried out in coordination with Venezuelan authorities and marked another step in his administration’s campaign against cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
“Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else,” Trump wrote.
The president also used the post to criticize former President Joe Biden’s border policies and linked the gang to several high-profile killings, including those of Jocelyn Nungaray and Laken Riley.
The Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization in 2025 and has expanded the use of military assets in counternarcotics and anti-cartel operations across Latin America. Straight Arrow previously reported that administration officials were considering deeper military actions against cartel networks in the region.
Guerrero, 43, had been one of the most wanted figures in the Western Hemisphere. U.S. authorities accused him of overseeing a criminal network involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking, extortion and money laundering. He escaped from Venezuela’s Tocoron prison in 2023 after allegedly running the organization from inside the facility for years. The United States had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
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