Latest news with #TrainofAragua
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What is Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang targeted by Trump?
In September 2023, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro sent 11,000 soldiers to storm the Tocorón Prison in the northern state of Aragua. But they were not dispatched to quell a riot. The troops were taking back control of the prison from a powerful gang that had turned it into something of a resort, complete with zoo, restaurants, nightclub, betting shop and swimming pool. But the gang's boss, Hector Guerrero Flores, escaped. Now the Tren de Aragua organisation is in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump's drive to remove foreign criminals from the US as part of his campaign pledge to mass deport illegal immigrants. Here is what we do know about Tren de Aragua. Tren de Aragua was originally a prison gang that Hector Guerrero Flores turned into a "transnational criminal organisation", according the US state department, which is offering a reward of $5m for information that could lead to his arrest. Guerrero Flores, 41, was in and out of Tocorón for more than a decade. He escaped in 2012 by bribing a guard and was then rearrested in 2013. Upon his return, he transformed the prison into a leisure complex. And he expanded the gang's influence far beyond the jail's gates, seizing control of gold mines in Bolivar state, drug corridors on the Caribbean coast, and clandestine border crossings between Venezuela and Colombia, according to the US state department. The gang's name translates as "Train of Aragua", and it may have come from a railroad workers' union. Luis Izquiel, a criminology professor at the Central University of Venezuela, told the BBC that the union controlled a section of the railway that crossed Aragua and would extort contractors and sell jobs on work sites. Tren de Aragua has under Guerrero Flores's leadership expanded into Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile and diversified from extorting migrants into sex-trafficking, contract killing and kidnapping. By most accounts, Tren de Aragua spread out of Venezuela when the country entered a humanitarian and economic emergency in 2014 that made crime less profitable, and now is believed to have nodes in eight other countries, including the US. Ronna Rísquez, a journalist who has written the definitive book on the group, estimated last year that the organisation has 5,000 members and annual profits of between $10m and $15m. Others have estimated its membership at roughly half that figure. A prosecutor in Chile has called Tren de Aragua a "brutal organisation" that uses murder and torture to achieve its aims. While it is smaller or less wealthy than other criminal groups in Latin America, Tren de Aragua is often compared to the ultra-violent MS-13 gang from El Salvador. Tren de Aragua members have been accused of dressing up as Chilean police officers and then kidnapping Venezuelan opposition military officer Ronald Ojeda, whose body was found buried in Santiago, Chile, in March 2024. The US Treasury, under then-President Joe Biden, sanctioned Tren de Aragua last summer, saying that the gang was involved in sex-trafficking across the US border. On Saturday Trump invoked the 18th Century Alien Enemies Act as he accused Tren de Aragua of "perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion of predatory incursion against the territory of the United States". He said the gang was engaged in "irregular warfare" against the US at the direction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Shortly after taking office in January Trump also has declared Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organisation, placing the group in the same category as Islamic State and Boko Haram, Nigeria's Islamist militants. In Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois, alleged Tren de Aragua members have been arrested in recent months and charged with crimes ranging from murder to kidnapping. Last summer NBC News reported that the Department of Homeland estimated that 600 Venezuelan migrants in the US had connections to the gang, with 100 believed to be members. As of 2023, there were 770,000 Venezuelans living in the US, representing slightly less than 2% of all immigrants in the county, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Most had been given protected status by the US government. Customs and Border Protection reports encountering 313,500 Venezuelan migrants at the border in 2024. Manhunt for Venezuelan gang boss who ran luxury jail Cómo opera el temido Tren de Aragua, la sangrienta megabanda de Venezuela que se ha expandido por América Latina
BBC News
17-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Tren de Aragua: What is the Venezuelan gang targeted by Trump?
In September 2023, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro sent 11,000 soldiers to storm the Tocorón Prison in the northern state of Aragua. But they were not dispatched to quell a troops were taking back control of the prison from a powerful gang that had turned it into something of a resort, complete with zoo, restaurants, nightclub, betting shop and swimming the gang's boss, Hector Guerrero Flores, the Tren de Aragua organisation is in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump's drive to remove foreign criminals from the US as part of his campaign pledge to mass deport illegal is what we do know about Tren de Aragua. How did the gang start? Tren de Aragua was originally a prison gang that Hector Guerrero Flores turned into a "transnational criminal organisation", according the US state department, which is offering a reward of $5m for information that could lead to his Flores, 41, was in and out of Tocorón for more than a escaped in 2012 by bribing a guard and was then rearrested in 2013. Upon his return, he transformed the prison into a leisure he expanded the gang's influence far beyond the jail's gates, seizing control of gold mines in Bolivar state, drug corridors on the Caribbean coast, and clandestine border crossings between Venezuela and Colombia, according to the US state gang's name translates as "Train of Aragua", and it may have come from a railroad workers' Izquiel, a criminology professor at the Central University of Venezuela, told the BBC that the union controlled a section of the railway that crossed Aragua and would extort contractors and sell jobs on work de Aragua has under Guerrero Flores's leadership expanded into Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile and diversified from extorting migrants into sex-trafficking, contract killing and kidnapping. How big is the gang? By most accounts, Tren de Aragua spread out of Venezuela when the country entered a humanitarian and economic emergency in 2014 that made crime less profitable, and now is believed to have nodes in eight other countries, including the Rísquez, a journalist who has written the definitive book on the group, estimated last year that the organisation has 5,000 members and annual profits of between $10m and $ have estimated its membership at roughly half that figure.A prosecutor in Chile has called Tren de Aragua a "brutal organisation" that uses murder and torture to achieve its it is smaller or less wealthy than other criminal groups in Latin America, Tren de Aragua is often compared to the ultra-violent MS-13 gang from El de Aragua members have been accused of dressing up as Chilean police officers and then kidnapping Venezuelan opposition military officer Ronald Ojeda, whose body was found buried in Santiago, Chile, in March US Treasury, under then-President Joe Biden, sanctioned Tren de Aragua last summer, saying that the gang was involved in sex-trafficking across the US border. Is there a threat to the US? President Trump's administration has declared Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organisation, placing the group in the same category as Islamic State and Boko Haram, Nigeria's Islamist various places such as Texas, Miami, New York and Chicago, alleged Tren de Aragua members have been arrested and charged with crimes ranging from murder to summer NBC News reported that the Department of Homeland estimated that 600 Venezuelan migrants in the US had connections to the gang, with 100 believed to be of 2023, there were 770,000 Venezuelans living in the US, representing slightly less than 2% of all immigrants in the county, according to the Migration Policy had been given protected status by the US and Border Protection reports encountering 313,500 Venezuelan migrants at the border in 2024.
New York Times
16-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
What Is Tren de Aragua?
President Trump's executive order on Saturday invoking the Alien Enemies Act targeted Venezuelan citizens 14 years and older with ties to the transnational gang Tren de Aragua, saying they 'are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.' Mr. Trump's order was quickly challenged in court, but the gang has been a growing source of concern for U.S. officials over the last year. The Biden administration labeled Tren de Aragua a transnational criminal organization in 2024, the New York Police Department has highlighted its activity on the East Coast, and the Trump White House began the process of designating it a foreign terrorist organization in January. Here is what we know about the gang: A rising force out of Venezuela Tren de Aragua (Train of Aragua, or Aragua Train) has roots in Tocorón prison in Venezuela's northern Aragua state, which the group's leaders had transformed into a mini-city with a pool, restaurants and a zoo. They reportedly recorded executions and torture there to maintain control over other prisoners. As Venezuela's economy collapsed and its government under President Nicolás Maduro became more repressive, the group began exploiting vulnerable migrants. Tren de Aragua's influence soon stretched into other parts of Latin America, and it developed into one of the region's most violent and notorious criminal organizations, focusing on sex trafficking, human smuggling and drugs. Colombian officials in 2022 accused the gang of at least 23 murders after the police began to find body parts in bags. Alleged members have also been apprehended in Chile and in Brazil, where the gang aligned itself with Primeiro Comando da Capital, one of that country's biggest organized crime rings. A recent entry to the United States Despite the many unknowns about its true size or sophistication in the United States, Tren de Aragua has emerged as a real source of concern for law enforcement in the last couple of years. In New York City, according to the police the gang has focused on stealing cellphones; retail thefts, especially high-end merchandise in department stores and thefts while riding scooters; and dealing a pink, powdery synthetic drug, known as Tusi, that is often laced with ketamine, MDMA or fentanyl. The police have also said that the gang is believed to recruit members from inside the city's migrant shelters, and has variously had conflicts or made alliances with other gangs. In other parts of the country, people accused of affiliations with Tren de Aragua have been charged with crimes such as shootings and human trafficking, mostly targeting members of the Venezuelan community. In May 2024, federal officials uncovered a sex-trafficking ring in which they said the gang was forcing Venezuelan women into sex to repay debts to smugglers who assisted with border crossings. The ring stretched across Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Florida and New Jersey, according to a complaint filed in federal court. The group's presence in the United States was a flashpoint of the 2024 election, as Mr. Trump accused the Biden administration of letting criminals into the country. During a presidential debate, he falsely suggested that the gang had taken over Aurora, Colo. A source of stigma for migrants The Trump administration has repeatedly described Tren de Aragua as a focus of its deportation efforts. Venezuelan migrants seeking asylum say the gang's presence and the discourse around it in the United States have created hurtful stigma and discrimination against them. 'Any of us who have tattoos, they think that we are Tren de Aragua,' said Evelyn Velasquez, 33-year-old Venezuelan woman, told The New York Times in September. 'I'll go apply for a job and when they hear that we are Venezuelan, they turn us down.' In February, the White House press secretary said that 10 men detained and housed in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba were members of Tren de Aragua. The sister of one of the men detained said that he was not a gang member. In late February, the Trump administration abruptly emptied two detention sites the government had used to hold 177 Venezuelans flown in from the United States, including a military prison building formerly used to hold terrorism detainees. Federal officials moved out a second group of migrants this month.
