Madrid/The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced this Friday the death of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias the Warrior Boytop boss of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua, during an attack carried out by the US Southern Command and coordinated with the Venezuelan authorities.
“Under my orders, the United States Southern Command carried out a rapid and lethal kinetic attack to successfully execute the Boy Warrior,” Trump said on his Truth Social social network. The president defined the leader as the leader of “one of the bloodiest terrorist organizations on the planet” and assured that the operation was prepared together with his “friends from Venezuela.”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the attack occurred earlier this week and that Guerrero was killed during the action. The Government of Venezuela located the operation in the state of Bolívar, in the southeast of the country, an extensive mining region bordering Brazil and Guyana.
According to a statement from the Venezuelan Ministry of Communication and Information, during the operation there were clashes with members of various criminal structures, in which Guerrero was “neutralized.” Caracas indicated that the United States provided specialized technology and intelligence information, but denied the presence of American soldiers in Venezuelan territory.
“We will find these ruthless killers and drug dealers wherever they are and send them to the depths of hell, where they belong.”
The operation shows the degree of collaboration reached between Washington and the interim government of Delcy Rodríguez after the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Since then, the Trump Administration has lifted some sanctions and strengthened cooperation with Caracas, especially on security and oil exploitation.
“The Aragua Train no longer has a safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else,” Trump said. “We will find these ruthless killers and drug dealers wherever they are and send them to the depths of hell, where they belong,” he added.
The president took advantage of the announcement to defend his offensive against the cartels and once again attack the immigration policy of his predecessor, Joe Biden. Trump accused the Democrat of having allowed members of criminal organizations to enter the United States and took credit for the deportation of thousands of foreigners with criminal records.
Washington included the Tren de Aragua on its list of foreign terrorist organizations in February 2025. The classification has served the US Administration to toughen the expulsions of Venezuelans identified as members of the gang, although organizations defending migrants have denounced that some accusations were based on insufficient evidence, such as tattoos or photographs published on social networks.
Niño Guerrero was one of the most wanted criminals in Latin America. The United States offered a reward of five million dollars for information leading to his capture and accused him of crimes related to organized crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking and money laundering.
In July 2025, the Treasury Department sanctioned the ringleader and five other leaders of the gang, including Yohan José Romero, alias Johan Petricaconsidered one of his main lieutenants.
From Tocorón, Niño Guerrero directed the transformation of a prison gang into a transnational criminal network
El Niño Guerrero had remained a fugitive since September 2023, when thousands of Venezuelan police and soldiers occupied the Tocorón prison, in the state of Aragua. The prison functioned as the organization’s operations center and had a swimming pool, nightclub, restaurants, an improvised zoo and tunnels through which several ringleaders escaped before the intervention.
Since 2018, Guerrero had been serving a sentence of more than 17 years for a dozen crimes, including homicide, drug trafficking and possession of weapons of war. From Tocorón he directed the transformation of a prison gang into a transnational criminal network.
The origins of the Aragua Train date back to the unions that participated in the construction of a railway line between the states of Aragua and Carabobo. Extortion and disputes over jobs on construction sites progressively led to a structure dedicated to kidnapping, contract killings, prostitution, arms trafficking and the exploitation of migrants.
The gang expanded taking advantage of the exodus of millions of Venezuelans and established cells in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador and other countries. Authorities have also detected its presence in the United States and Europe. In Spain, the National Police has arrested several alleged members, including a fugitive arrested in Madrid in April and wanted by the US Justice Department for crimes against banking entities.
Guerrero’s death represents the most important blow against the leadership of the Aragua Train, although US authorities recognize that the organization operates through cells with a certain degree of autonomy. The disappearance of its boss does not necessarily imply the end of a network that, after years of expansion, operates far from the Venezuelan prison where it was born.
