The birth, growth, and expansion of the Tren de Aragua is not a story made up from imagination; it’s not a fictional adventure, nor is it a tale invented to harm Nicolás Maduro’s regime as he claims. No, it’s a real phenomenon that stands as a serious transnational threat, necessitating regional cooperation and political pressure to confront and overcome it.
Since its emergence in a Venezuelan prison, the Tren de Aragua has undergone an intense development process that has enabled it to become the most powerful criminal organization in Venezuela, extending its reach beyond borders and establishing a stronghold abroad.
The days when it was seen merely as a prison gang are long gone; its high operational capacity has transformed it into a transnational menace. Its diverse criminal activities allow it to adapt to the societies it targets, as its criminal portfolio is broad and highly potent.
Expanding Criminality
Emerging from the Tocorón prison under the leadership of Héctor Guerrero, known as “Niño Guerrero,” the Tren de Aragua has honed its skills in extortion, contract killings, and drug trafficking, which fueled its growth and led it to expand its operations across other regions of Venezuela.
However, the country became too small for them; between 2018 and 2022, they infiltrated Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, and Brazil, establishing networks for human trafficking, forced prostitution, and drug trafficking that operate as cells of the criminal organization.
Their power surged due to the high level of violence and cruelty in their actions, using terror to consolidate territorial control in each locality where they engage in criminal activities.
The Tren de Aragua is Not Fiction
The chavista regime seeks to deny or downplay the existence of the Tren de Aragua, labeling it merely as a strategy to dissociate itself from the alleged ties it has with this criminal organization.
Reports from specialized organizations, such as the one presented by the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), assert that the Tren de Aragua acts as a proxy for the Venezuelan regime.
This claim should not be dismissed or ignored, especially in light of recent events where the Chilean judiciary sentenced twelve members of the Tren de Aragua to prison terms totaling 300 years, including five life sentences. Previously, in March, another 34 members of the Tren de Aragua received sentences adding up to 560 years in prison.
In Costa Rica, authorities dismantled a Tren de Aragua network dedicated to human trafficking for sexual exploitation. Argentina maintains a permanent counter-terrorism operation against this organization, with a firm commitment to dismantling it and halting its criminal activities on its soil.
In the United States, the Department of Justice made significant moves, prosecuting 27 Tren de Aragua members in April for various criminal activities, and one of its members received a life sentence for murder. The Tren de Aragua exists, and its criminal activities wreak havoc across the continent.
Tren de Aragua: A Transnational Threat
On June 24, the United States sanctioned a key leader of the Tren de Aragua, Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano, who is responsible for narcotics trafficking and murders on behalf of this organization in Colombia. The State Department, through its Rewards for Justice program administered by the Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, is offering a $3 million reward for information leading to Mosquera Serrano’s arrest.
In February 2025, the Trump administration designated the Tren de Aragua alongside other Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. The government invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to execute the deportation of over 100 out of the 238 Venezuelan and Salvadoran immigrants sent to the CECOT in El Salvador.
The administration claims these immigrants are gang members of the Tren de Aragua and are deemed foreign enemies, thus enabling their expulsion with just a White House order.
Indeed, the Tren de Aragua has become a transnational threat requiring a concerted response from the entire region, as well as political pressure to drive actions aimed at definitively dismantling the Tren de Aragua.
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