The leader of Tren de Aragua was killed in a “swift and lethal” joint military action by the US and Venezuela, a blow to the notorious transnational gang that’s been allowed to “rape, maim, and murder American citizens with total impunity,” President Trump announced.

The strike happened earlier this week alongside Venezuelan security forces targeting a compound housing Tren founder and leader Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as  Niño Guerrero, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday.

“At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren De Aragua, one of the most bloodthirsty Terrorist Organizations on Planet Earth,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

Trump’s post included a dramatic video showing a projectile hitting a building in a remote area of Venezuela, followed by a massive, fiery explosion.

The attack was “retribution,” Trump said, for the violent crimes perpetrated by Tren de Argua, which he described as a “foreign army” that was allowed to “rape, maim, and murder American Citizens with total impunity” under former President Joe Biden. 

“Early in my Administration, I delivered on my promise to designate Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, deport thousands of evil criminals, and wage war against the Cartels, who have long been waging war against our Citizens, while weak leaders left America helpless and defensive,” Trump continued. 

The president said the airstrike was “coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well.”

“As a result, Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else and, under my leadership, we will find these vicious murderers and drug lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong,” Trump concluded. 

Taking out Guerrero marks a new level of cooperation between Venezuela and the United States. 

US military officials stressed the joint action with the former US rival in statements after Trump shared video of the “swift and lethal” strike that took out Guerrero.

“We extend our gratitude to the Venezuelan security forces for their support to the successful joint operation against a Tren de Aragua compound that resulted in the death of the narco-terrorist organization’s leader,” said Gen. Francis L. Donovan, head of US Southern Command.

“Guerrero was a wanted fugitive charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with ordering, directing, and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the United States.”

The strike could have far-reaching consequences for an organization that has spread its tentacles to include a presence in Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, with reports other narcos on the run could also be in jeopardy.

Video posted on social media Thursday showed locals sifting through the damaged home of TDA Lt. Humberto Martes, with locals grabbing a TV, clothes and furniture.  

One video showed a huge plume of smoke rising from the house where officials say the strike occurred.

Venezuela’s ministry of communications in its own statement said the military carried out the operation in the southeast state of Bolivar. 

“During the operation, clashes occurred with members of these criminal groups, resulting in the neutralization of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores — alias “Niño Guerrero” — the leader of a criminal organization,” it said.

While the Venezuelan government announced the arrest of Guerrero’s mother and grandmother, former Venezuelan prosecutor Zair Mundaray posted on X that in fact they had been in custody for two years. 

A conspiracy theory is already making the rounds in local media. Mundaray said sources told him to “watch out for another set-up” of officials trying to “pass off” a charred body for the real Guerrero using DNA evidence.

Since September, the Trump administration has aggressively targeted alleged Tren de Aragua gang members – striking dozens of alleged drug smuggling boats in Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing more than 200 suspected narcoterrorists.

The Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025.

In December, an indictment against Guerrero, 43, was unsealed in the Southern District of New York, accusing him participating in a racketeering conspiracy; conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists; cocaine importation conspiracy; and using and carrying firearms, machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of drug trafficking. 

“As alleged, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores has been the mastermind of Tren de Aragua’s evolution from a Venezuelan prison gang into a transnational terrorist organization that committed countless acts of violence, extortion, and drug trafficking all over North America, South America, and Europe,” US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement at the time. 

The State Department had offered up to $5 million for information leading to Guerrero’s capture and conviction.