A US military strike has killed one of Latin America’s most notorious gang leaders, according to President Donald Trump, who said American forces targeted Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores — better known as Niño Guerrero — the head of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua.
“At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Nino Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren de Aragua, one of the most bloodthirsty terrorist organisations on the planet,” Mr Trump said in a post on Truth Social..
“This action was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well.”
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth also confirmed the operation, writing on X that the strike took place earlier this week and that Guerrero “was confirmed killed during the strike.”
Mr Hegseth said the strike was conducted earlier this week.
The Trump administration has repeatedly gone after Guerrero and other top figures tied to Tren de Aragua, using sanctions over alleged criminal enterprises that include illicit drug smuggling, human trafficking and money laundering.
The State Department has designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organisation.
Mr Trump has claimed Tren de Aragua coordinated its US activities with the Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration has cited the alleged connection to justify deporting some immigrants in the US to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
Tren de Aragua has built a reputation around human trafficking and for controlling routes used by Venezuelans and other South American migrants traveling south toward relatively prosperous Chile and other destinations in South America or Europe.
Latin American police officials say the group has been tied to a broad slate of crimes — from extortion, kidnapping and money laundering to contract killings, smuggling and organised retail theft — with activity reported from Panama to Brazil and along the Andean corridor.
Guerrero escaped from Tocorón prison in Venezuela along with other gang leaders just before a police raid in 2023.
