Caracas (AFP) – The Tren de Aragua leader killed in a US-Venezuelan raid was a high school dropout who lived in comfort behind bars as he transformed a prison gang into one of the most powerful and extensive criminal organizations in Latin America. Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias Nino Guerrero, or “child warrior,” died at age 42 in a raid announced Friday by President Donald Trump and later confirmed by Venezuela.
Founded in Venezuela in 2014, Tren de Aragua has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and is believed to be active in eight South American countries including Colombia, Peru, and Chile. It is accused of drug trafficking, extortion, and other crimes, and Guerrero had a $5 million US bounty on his head.
Guerrero was from the city of Maracay, about 100 km (60 miles) from Caracas, and after dropping out of high school quickly got involved in crime. By 2010, at the age of 26, he was already accused of robbery, murder, and kidnapping. He was imprisoned in a jail called Tocoron in the state of Aragua — hence the name of the gang — escaped, and was caught again two years later and sent back to Tocoron. That’s when he started to build the criminal organization now known as Tren de Aragua while working from Tocoron, which he and fellow inmates effectively controlled.
Luis Izquiel, a lawyer and professor of criminology at Venezuela’s Central University, called Guerrero a criminal mastermind. He said Guerrero’s leadership stood out “not so much for its ferocity, or his inhumanity in committing crime, but rather because he was a person with a criminal mind who managed to expand the tentacles of the Tren de Aragua and strengthen them.”
Guerrero built his operational base at the Tocoron prison and became what is known in his world as a “pran” — a Spanish acronym that translates as “serious heavyweight and natural-born killer,” said Izquiel. He lived in a two-story house on the prison grounds, receiving visitors and enjoying such amenities as a swimming pool, baseball field, restaurants, and even a zoo, according to Ronna Risquez, who wrote a book called “Tren de Aragua: the Gang that Revolutionized Organized Crime in Latin America.”
Guerrero was the boss both inside and outside the prison, with access to guns and cash. He was accused of brutal killings in several countries including Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Guerrero escaped from Tocoron in 2023 as the Venezuelan government moved to take back control of gang-run prisons and crack down on “pran” figures like him. In 2025, Guerrero and 69 other alleged members of Tren de Aragua were indicted in the United States on charges of engaging in terrorism and other violent crime in America.
Guerrero’s whereabouts were unknown until Friday, when Trump announced in a social media post the raid in which the fugitive died in southeast Bolivar state. Trump’s post featured a 10-second video showing an overhead view of a building surrounded by greenery before an explosion erupts, sending up a cloud of smoke. No people are clearly visible in the footage.
Izquiel said Guerrero’s death is good news for countries where Tren de Aragua operates because its structure is one in which he will not be quickly and smoothly replaced. “It is a severe blow,” Izquiel said.
© 2024 AFP
