The Tren de Aragua leader was killed in a US military airstrike, President Donald Trump announced, marking a dramatic blow against one of Latin America’s most feared criminal empires. At his direction, Trump said, US Southern Command carried out a “swift and lethal kinetic strike” to “successfully execute” Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, the man known across the region as Niño Guerrero.

Trump shared the news on his social media platform, framing the operation as a turning point in his administration’s long campaign against the gang.

A Strike Coordinated With Venezuela

What set this operation apart was the partnership behind it. Trump said the attack was coordinated closely with allies in Venezuela, with whom he claimed the US was working very well—a striking statement given the two countries’ fraught history.

The president posted aerial footage of the strike itself. The video, shot from above, showed a small building with a green roof exploding, debris scattering into the air.

Venezuelan officials confirmed they had taken part. The government described it as a joint operation involving intelligence sharing and specialized technical support, and said clashes with gang members during the mission resulted in Guerrero’s death. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed that account, noting that US forces, working with Venezuelan security forces, had struck a Tren de Aragua compound and confirmed the gang founder’s death.

Who Was Niño Guerrero?

Guerrero, 43, was no ordinary crime boss. Known by chilling nicknames like “The Unspeakable,” he spent more than a decade at the helm of Tren de Aragua. He was credited with transforming what began as a Venezuelan prison gang into a sprawling transnational operation reaching across Latin America, into the United States, and even as far as Spain.

The Trump administration had made him a priority target. The State Department designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025, and Guerrero was charged in December with racketeering conspiracy and providing support to terrorists, among other crimes, with a $5 million reward offered for information leading to his capture. Trump has repeatedly accused the group of waging a form of irregular warfare against the United States.

From Prison Cell to Criminal Empire

Guerrero’s story reads like something out of fiction. Prosecutors say he initially ran Tren de Aragua from inside Tocorón Prison, directing members on the outside and collecting fees from their crimes.

His relationship with incarceration was almost theatrical. He escaped in 2012 by bribing a guard, was recaptured the following year, and received a 17-year sentence in 2018—only to break free yet again in 2023, remaining at large until the strike that ended his life.

While behind bars, Guerrero lived in stunning luxury. He turned Tocorón into a kind of resort, complete with a swimming pool, a zoo, restaurants, a nightclub and a betting shop. He reportedly occupied an entire floor of the prison, guarded by his own men, living like a king.

Even Venezuela’s own forces struggled to rein him in. In September 2023, then-President Nicolás Maduro deployed roughly 11,000 soldiers to retake the prison. Guerrero slipped away once more.

A Gang That Outgrew Venezuela

Under Guerrero’s leadership, Tren de Aragua expanded far beyond extortion. The group branched into sex trafficking, contract killing, and kidnapping, while pushing into Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile.

Its growth accelerated as Venezuela spiraled into humanitarian and economic crisis starting in 2014. With local crime less profitable, the gang spread outward and is now believed to operate in at least eight countries, including the US.

A key to its reach has been alliance-building with local criminal players. Reports suggest the gang has worked alongside:

• Groups loosely tied to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel in Ecuador
• Members of Colombia’s left-wing ELN guerrilla movement
• Operators controlling gold mines, drug corridors and clandestine border crossings

The US State Department says Guerrero personally seized control of gold mines in Bolívar state and Caribbean drug routes even while moving in and out of custody.

A Shifting US-Venezuela Relationship

The strike fits into a larger and unexpected realignment. Earlier this year, American forces seized Maduro from his compound in an overnight raid to face criminal charges in New York, accusing him of collaborating with the gang—an indictment that named Guerrero as a co-conspirator.

Since then, Washington has worked to warm ties with Maduro’s successor, Delcy Rodríguez. The US lifted sanctions on her and pursued cooperation on extracting Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest on the planet. The recent joint operation appears to be the clearest sign yet of that thaw.

Questions Over a Broader Campaign

Guerrero’s death comes amid a wider and increasingly controversial US military effort. Since September, American forces have launched dozens of strikes on boats the administration claims are smuggling drugs into the country, some allegedly linked to Tren de Aragua. Trump has carried out a series of these strikes on small vessels his administration accuses of trafficking.

According to US media reporting, more than 200 people have died in these strikes. Yet the military has not publicly produced evidence that the targeted boats were carrying drugs or smugglers, fueling criticism and legal challenges.

Some legal experts warn the operations may breach international law by killing people without due process. The administration disputes that view. In a statement to Congress last year, the White House said Trump had formally determined the US was in an armed conflict with drug cartels and that crews aboard drug-running boats qualified as combatants.

For now, the killing of Niño Guerrero hands Trump a high-profile victory in that campaign—even as the broader questions surrounding it remain far from settled.