U.S. sanctions head of Tren de Aragua, five key figures
July 18 (UPI) -- The United States has sanctioned the head of the Tren de Aragua gang and five key leaders and affiliates as the Trump administration targets criminal organizations as part of its immigration crackdown.
Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, 42, is accused of being the leader of Tren de Aragua, and of expanding it from a Venezuelan prison gang involved in extortion and bribery to what the Treasury said was "an organization with growing influence throughout the Western Hemisphere."
Under the previous Biden administration, the State Department issued a reward of up to $5 million for information that leads to his arrest or conviction.
Guerrero Flores, also known as Nino Guerrero, was sanctioned Thursday by the Treasury, along with Yohan Jose Romero, 47, Josue Angel Santana Pena, 30, Wilmer Jose Perez Castillo, 39, Wendy Marbelys Rios Gomez, 45, and Felix Anner Castillo Rondon, 41.
"Today's action highlights the critical role of leaders like Nino Guerrero and his lieutenants in Tren de Aragua's efforts to increase its destabilizing influence throughout the region," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
"The Trump administration will not allow Tren de Aragua to continue to terrorize our communities and harm innocent Americans."
The sanctions freeze all property under the designated individual's name and bar U.S. persons from doing business with them.
Tren de Aragua has been a target of the Trump administration, which has sought to conduct mass deportations and close the border to undocumented migrants.
On Feb. 20, the U.S. State Department designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization.
The following month, President Donald Trump tried to use the gang, under unfounded claims it was "perpetrating, attempting and threatening an invasion" of the United States, to invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador -- a move that has since been blocked by the courts.
The FBI on Thursday also added Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List, with the State Department offering a reward of up to $3 million for information leading to his arrest of conviction.
Mosquera Serrano is accused of being a leader of Tren de Aragua and is the first member of the gang to be added to the FBI's infamous list.
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