(CNN Spanish) — The criminal gang El Tren de Aragua is in the center of attention after a judicial document was revealed that records suspicions of the possible presence in Venezuela of the leader of the organization.
According to a document from the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela dated March 21, 2024, the Venezuelan authorities believe that Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as “Niño Guerrero” and leader of El Tren de Aragua, “could be taking refuge in buildings.” which it owns in the city of Valencia, Carabobo state”, in the center of the country.
It is also recorded that the court issued a search warrant after which an operation was carried out in two homes that could belong to Guerrero Flores’ mother and partner, and that in them they found “evidence of criminalistic interest.” The document does not specify when this operation was carried out.
What is The Aragua Train?
The Aragua Train is classified as the largest and most powerful criminal gang in Venezuela, according to reports from the organization Insight Crime and the United States Government.
Insight Crime adds that the origin of this mega-gang, which, at least until the eviction, was based in the Tocorón prison, dates back to 2005 with the union of workers who were working on the construction of a railway project that would unite the Aragua and Carabobo states.
Hence its name, ‘Aragua Train’. According to the NGO report, the union began charging for the assignment of jobs and extorted contractors in exchange for security. Gradually, he expanded his criminal activities. In 2013, with the imprisonment of Héctor Rustherford Guerrero Flores, alias “Niño Guerrero”, in the Tocorón prison, the Tren de Aragua began to ally with other criminal gangs to expand their domains. They came to control the San Vicente neighborhood, located in Maracay, the capital of the Aragua state, according to Insight Crime and reports from the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence.
In its expansion project, El Tren de Aragua has had conflicts since 2017 with gangs such as El Tren del Llano in the state of Sucre, in eastern Venezuela, for drug trafficking to the Caribbean, according to Insight Crime, and even with the guerrillas. Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN) in the department of Norte de Santander, for crimes such as human trafficking.
In fact, the US Government indicates that, according to an investigative report published this year, El Tren de Aragua and the ELN operate sex trafficking networks on the borders of the town of Villa del Rosario, in Norte de Santander.
Transparencia Venezuela, the Venezuelan arm of the non-governmental organization Transparency International, reports that, since 2021, El Tren de Aragua has been in conflict with the ELN for control of the border with Colombia.
Members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) stand guard as relatives wait for news after authorities took control of the Tocorón prison in Tocorón, Aragua state, Venezuela, on September 20, 2023. (Photo: YURI CORTEZ /AFP via Getty Images)
Where does it operate?
Insight Crime points out that El Tren de Aragua has a presence in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile.
Meanwhile, Transparencia Venezuela says that it also has a presence in Brazil and Costa Rica.
Transparencia Venezuela adds that El Tren de Aragua is located in the following states of the country:
- Aragua
- Laura
- Yaracuy
- Bolivar
- Sucre
- Miranda
- Tachira
- Guarico
- Carabobo
- Trujillo
- Hurry
- Zulia
Who leads it, how many members does it have and what are its main crimes?
Transparencia Venezuela explains that the organization is dedicated to the illegal extraction of minerals, the illicit trafficking of drugs, weapons and scrap metal, and the collection of “the cause” – the fee that, apparently, each prisoner must pay in prisons. Venezuelans – to robbery, kidnapping and human trafficking.
This last crime, both the NGO and Insight Crime point out, has boosted the expansion of El Tren de Aragua, by following in the footsteps of millions of Venezuelan migrants to other countries.
Transparency Venezuela assures that the criminal megagang has more than 4,000 members. Among all of them, Héctor Rustherford Guerrero Flores, alias “Niño Guerrero”, is the main leader.
The organization explains that there have been reports of “Niño Guerrero’s” criminal career since 2005, when he was arrested for the murder of an official.
In September 2012, when he was detained in the Tocorón prison, his escape was reported. “Niño Guerrero” was recaptured in 2013 in Barquisimeto, in central western Venezuela.
“According to the information published at that time, he had been operating in the region for two months and was carrying a false identity,” comments Transparencia Venezuela, adding that, although he was initially sent to the Los Llanos Penitentiary Center, he returned to prison shortly after. from Tocorón.
On December 15, 2016, a trial court in the state of Aragua sentenced Guerrero to 17 years and two months in prison for being responsible for twelve crimes, including intentional homicide, prison escape, concealment of a weapon of war, drug trafficking and association. to commit a crime.
Guerrero has never given interviews, nor has he referred to the sentences of the Venezuelan justice system.
Insight Crime points out that “Niño Guerrero” was in the Tocorón prison; However, he would have left the penitentiary center days before the Government operation, according to the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory.
The Venezuelan Prisons Observatory assures that the Government’s operation to take over the Tocorón prison was discussed and negotiated in advance with “Niño Guerrero” and other close collaborators, who, always according to that version, would have left the facility days before the takeover. without informing the prison population.
CNN has not been able to independently verify this information.
In a press conference called this Thursday, the Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Remigio Ceballos, did not respond to that version. When asked about El Tren de Aragua, the official responded that in the operation they had captured “members of criminal groups that operate in the state of Aragua and other parts of the country.” He never mentioned the band by name.
With information from Osmary Hernández.
