The leader of the transnational gang Tren de Aragua is dead. Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias Nino Guerrero, was killed in a joint operation between the United States and Venezuela, authorities said Friday.
Venezuela's Ministry of Communications said there were clashes with members of the criminal structure in the southeast of Bolivar state. The ministry described it as a "joint operation" involving "specialized technological support" and intelligence exchange with the United States.
US President Donald Trump confirmed the strike on his Truth Social platform. "At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Nino Guerrero," Trump wrote. He said the attack "was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela," appearing to refer to the interim leadership of Delcy Rodriguez, who has been in place since the US removed Nicolas Maduro from power in January.
"As a result, Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else," Trump's post read.
Trump's post included a 10-second video showing an overhead view of a building surrounded by greenery before an explosion sends up a cloud of smoke. No people are visible in the footage.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also confirmed the kinetic strike hit a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela.
Federal prosecutors in New York had filed racketeering, drug, and firearms charges against Guerrero in December. US Attorney Jay Clayton called him "the mastermind of Tren de Aragua's evolution from a Venezuelan prison gang into a transnational terrorist organization." Under Guerrero's leadership, the gang committed "countless acts of violence, extortion, and drug trafficking all over North America, South America, and Europe," Clayton said.
The US State Department had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
According to a report by the InSight Crime think tank, Guerrero built Tren de Aragua into what it is today during his incarceration at Tocoron prison. Under his control, Tocoron became one of Venezuela's most notorious prisons, largely because the government handed control of certain prisons over to criminal leaders known as pranes. "This freedom and the gang's criminal revenues allowed for the construction of a zoo, a swimming pool, a playground, a restaurant, and a nightclub inside the prison," the report added.
The joint operation is the latest example of improving ties between Caracas and Washington since the capture of Nicolas Maduro. The two countries restored diplomatic relations in March, after they had been severed in 2019. The US is now reactivating its embassy in Caracas.