June 13, 2026, 07:27June 13, 2026, 07:27
A video from the White House is said to show the attack.Image: truth social/thewhitehouse
The US military has killed the leader of a notorious Venezuelan gang, according to President Donald Trump. The government in Venezuela supported the “swift and deadly attack” on drug lord Niño Guerrero, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Guerrero was the head of the Tren de Aragua gang, “one of the most bloodthirsty terrorist organizations in the world.”
Trump’s administration has designated Tren de Aragua and other Latin American organized crime groups as foreign terrorist organizations. The Venezuelan gang is involved in drug trafficking, protection rackets and human trafficking. It is now also active in other Latin American countries and the United States.
Trump did not provide any information in his post about where or when Guerrero was killed. The “close coordination with our friends in Venezuela” he mentioned suggests that the attack took place in the South American country.
Trump: We’re sending drug lords to hell
In his post, Trump also shared a short video that appears to show an airstrike on a house. After a projectile hits, a fireball can first be seen, then thick clouds of smoke rise.
Trump wrote that “the Tren de Aragua terrorists can no longer hide in Venezuela or anywhere else.” The USA would find the “disgraceful murderers and drug lords at any time and send them to the depths of hell where they belong”.
The US justice system had indicted Guerrero – whose full name is Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores – in absentia in December. A reward of $5 million was offered for his capture. At the time, prosecutor Jay Clayton described Guerrero as the mastermind behind Tren de Aragua’s evolution from a prison-based gang into an “international terrorist organization.” (sda/dpa)