Under the custody of Federal Marshals (US Marshals) and Dijín agents, A powerful leader of the transnational criminal organization ‘Tren de Aragua’, accused of sending cocaine from the capital to the United States, was extradited from Bogotá.
But that wasn’t his only business. The subject, identified with the alias ‘Chuqui’, is also accused of leading extortion networks in towns of Bogotá. According to the authorities, the resources collected from their criminal activities were used to finance the structure in the city and strengthen this criminal group with a strong presence in the country.
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From Bogotá to Texas
Moments of the capture of alias Chuqui. Photo:Courtesy
Alias Chuqui, whose first name is José Enrique Martínez Flores, was extradited to the United States on May 16.
EL TIEMPO reveals the formal accusation of himto the Court of the Southern District of Texas in which they accuse him of coordinating meetings in hotels in Bogotá for the shipment of cocaine to the North American country.
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“Martínez Flores was in charge of coordinating the acquisition of coca base paste and cocaine powder in the region of Bogotá, Colombia. The cocaine obtained by the ‘Aragua Train’ is transported to the northern coast of Colombia and from there it enters Panama and Costa Rica, from where it continues to be transported to the United States through Mexico,” the charging document reads.
Authorities assure that ‘Chuqui’, 25 years old and originally from Venezuela, is the right-hand man of alias Giovanni, the main ringleader of the structure that appears on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list.
Alias Giovanny, the powerful leader of the ‘Aragua Train’. Photo:Courtesy
‘Chuqui’ was captured in 2025 at the El Dorado airport and is the first member of the ‘Aragua Train’ to be accused of terrorism by the United States.
According to investigations, their operations were detected through legal interceptions of their WhatsApp chats and undercover agents who infiltrated the organization.
Deliveries at the hotel
One of the hotels in which the Aragua Train operated. Photo:Private file
“The agents participated in two undercover purchases of 10 kilograms of cocaine on November 6, 2024 and 14 kilograms of cocaine on March 5, 2025, in Bogotá, Colombia. These transactions directly involved Martínez Floreswho worked in close collaboration with the leader of the Tren de Aragua and was in charge of acquiring and distributing coca paste and powder cocaine in Colombia.”reads the file.
And he makes sure that he delivered drugs in a hotel room in Bogotá. These visits were fully recorded by the undercover agents.
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These undercover agents communicated with Martínez Flores and other leaders of the organization through text messages and WhatsApp voice notes, pretending to be buyers who would distribute the drugs in the United States.
In one of the communications that were intercepted in 2024, one of the ‘Tren’ leaders assured the undercover agent that he had ordered members to unload explosives against a group of army soldiers because they were approaching a “lair” of the criminal organization in South America.
Alias Chuqui, extradited to the US Photo:Dijin
““He has at his disposal more than 100 members of the Aragua Train who provide him with armed security at all times and which has a large number of high-powered weapons and rocket launchers capable of disabling military helicopters.”it is stated in the file.
In Colombia, alias Chuqui He was being prosecuted for the crimes of receiving and illegally carrying weapons.
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