Trump says U.S. military strike killed leader of Tren de Aragua gang with help from Venezuela

Published 13 June 2026 · us

President Donald Trump said on Friday (June 12, 2026) that a “swift and lethal kinetic” U.S. strike had killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, whom he

President Donald Trump said on Friday (June 12, 2026) that a “swift and lethal kinetic” U.S. strike had killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, whom he called “the infamous leader” of the Tren de Aragua gang. Tren de Aragua has been labelled by the United States as a terrorist organisation. Guerrero Flores was charged in a New York federal court with racketeering conspiracy and other crimes, including lending support to terrorists in crimes that stretched more than a decade, authorities announced in December. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that the strike occurred earlier in the week on a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said at the time that the gang is responsible for countless acts of violence, extortion and drug trafficking in North America, South America and Europe. Mr. Trump nominated Mr. Clayton on Thursday (June 11, 2026) to be the director of national intelligence. The U.S. State Department had offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to Guerrero Flores' arrest.

In a post on his social media site, Mr. Trump wrote, “Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else and, under my leadership, we will find these vicious murderers and drug lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong.” Mr. Trump's post referred to Guerrero Flores by his alias, “Niño Guerrero.” Hegseth said, “The operation underscores the shared U.S. and Venezuelan commitment to take the fight to narco-terrorists and deny them any safe haven in our hemisphere.” Venezuela's Ministry of Communications did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the operation. Trump has taken a series of extraordinary actions against the gang, including a series of strikes on small boats his administration has accused of smuggling drugs to America. At least 207 people have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September. Trump and administration officials have consistently blamed Tren de Aragua for being at the root of the violence and illicit drug dealing that plague some U.S. cities.

The President spent months repeating the claim — contradicted by a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment — that Tren de Aragua had operated under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's control. The U.S. whisked Mr. Maduro out of Venezuela to face U.S. drug charges in January. Tren de Aragua originated more than a decade ago at an infamously lawless prison with hardened criminals in Venezuela's central state of Aragua. The gang has expanded in recent years as millions of Venezuelans migrated to other Latin American countries or the U.S. in search of better living conditions. Guerrero Flores returned to the prison in Aragua for murder and other convictions in 2013, when Venezuela's crisis began as corruption, mismanagement and a drop in crude prices wrecked the oil-dependent economy. Guerrero Flores and a few other inmates saw a profitable opportunity as the government neglected prisons. They assumed control and administration of the prison, establishing a system that controlled the entire inmate population through force and extortion. Over time, they transformed the facility into a sort of city that included a zoo, baseball field, casino and restaurants.