Donald Trump
Tosin Ogunrinde
On Friday, June 12, 2026, President Donald Trump announced that U.S. Southern Command had carried out a “swift and lethal kinetic strike” that killed Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as Niño Guerrero, the leader of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the operation targeted “one of the most bloodthirsty Terrorist Organizations on Planet Earth” and shared a video showing a building with a green roof disappearing under a massive explosion. The president framed the strike as retribution for Americans murdered by the gang, naming 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray and 22-year-old Laken Riley among the victims.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X that the strike occurred earlier in the week on a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela. He added that the operation underscored “the shared U.S. and Venezuelan commitment to take the fight to narco-terrorists and deny them any safe haven in our hemisphere”. U.S. Southern Command Commander Gen. Francis Donovan also confirmed the joint targeting of a Tren de Aragua compound. The Pentagon released declassified aerial footage of the strike showing the moment of impact.
Venezuela’s government confirmed its participation in the operation. The Ministry of Communications said in a statement that the action took place in the southeastern state of Bolívar and involved intelligence sharing and specialized technical support. During clashes with members of the criminal structure, Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias “Niño Guerrero,” was killed, the ministry said. Trump noted that the action was “coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well.
Niño Guerrero, 42, transformed Tren de Aragua from a Venezuelan prison gang into a transnational criminal network with operations across Latin America, the United States, and Europe. He had been listed as a most wanted fugitive by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was indicted in December in the Southern District of New York for racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, cocaine importation conspiracy, and firearms offenses. The U.S. State Department had offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.
The Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February 2025, citing its role in human trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering, contract killings, smuggling, and organized retail theft. Officials say the group controls migrant routes used by Venezuelans and other South Americans and has expanded into drug trafficking and violent crime in the United States. Since January 20, 2025, the Department of Justice has federally indicted over 260 members of Tren de Aragua. Trump has argued that the gang coordinated its U.S. activities with the Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro, a claim used to justify deportations under a 1798 wartime law.
In his announcement, Trump linked the strike to his broader immigration and border policies. He said that before he returned to office, “Joe Biden opened our Southern Border to millions of Illegal Criminals, and allowed this foreign army to rape, maim, and murder American Citizens with total impunity”. He pledged during his campaign to expel gang members and bring justice to victims’ families. “Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else,” Trump wrote, adding that the U.S. would “find these vicious murderers and drug lords anytime, anyplace.
The operation marks a rare instance of overt U.S.-Venezuelan military coordination. Relations between Washington and Caracas have been strained for years, but both governments presented the strike as a joint counter-narcotics effort. Venezuela’s statement emphasized clashes with criminal structures during the mission, while U.S. officials highlighted intelligence cooperation. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, whom Trump nominated on Thursday to be director of national intelligence, previously said the gang was responsible for “countless acts of violence, extortion and drug trafficking” across multiple continents.
The death of Niño Guerrero removes the most visible figurehead of Tren de Aragua, but U.S. and Venezuelan officials have not detailed what impact the strike will have on the gang’s decentralized cells. The group’s operations span from Panama to Brazil and along the Andean corridor, with alleged activity in U.S. cities including New York. Homeland Security Task Force investigations have led to seizures of over 80 firearms and multiple indictments across five U.S. Attorney offices. Trump called the strike a message that the U.S. military would deliver retribution for victims and continue targeting cartel leadership.
