Tren de Aragua (; English: Aragua Train) is a transnational organized crime syndicate from Venezuela. Tren de Aragua was led by Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias "Niño Guerrero", until his death in June 2026. He was incarcerated at Tocorón prison (also known as Aragua Penitentiary Center) from 2013 to 2023, which functioned at the time as the organization's de facto headquarters. Though Tocorón prison was taken over by Venezuelan security forces during a raid in 2023, the leadership escaped.
Tren de Aragua was founded by Héctor Guerrero Flores, Yohan José Romero and Larry Álvarez Núñez in 2014. The gang expanded throughout Latin America and the United States during the Venezuelan refugee crisis, taking advantage of the refugee wave by acting as civilians. On 20 January 2025, US president Donald Trump signed an executive order initiating the process of designating various drug cartels and transnational gangs, including Tren de Aragua, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The designation took effect on 20 February 2025. In March 2025, the Trump administration ordered the deportation of alleged Tren de Aragua members, citing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The order was temporarily halted pending further legal challenges. Experts have disputed the designation as a terrorist organization, describing it as motivated by money and not political ideology.
In the United States, President Trump has referenced Tren de Aragua in discussions of immigration policy, comparing it to organizations such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, citing its reported presence when invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime law historically applied in contexts of armed conflict. This legislation affected deportation procedures for Venezuelan nationals, with the administration arguing they posed a terrorist threat. U.S. intelligence reports have indicated that the group operates independently of Venezuelan state control and lacks a coordinated structure within the country. Some analysts have compared current patterns to the 1980 Mariel boatlift, when the Cuban regime allowed mass departure of citizens, including a significant number of common prisoners and others deemed undesirable.
Reports indicate that members of Tren de Aragua have embedded themselves within Venezuelan refugee groups in Colombia, Peru, and Chile, which has established a greater presence of the group throughout South America. Combating the gang has become a priority for many nations where Tren de Aragua operates. The 2023 raid operation on the Aragua Penitentiary Center, considered the group's headquarters at the time, occurred following reports of crimes committed by the group in neighboring nations.
Origin Tren de Aragua began in the Tocorón prison in Aragua. The name of the group may trace its origins to a labor union that was working on a railway project in Aragua.
Identification criteria in the United States
Members of Tren de Aragua are primarily Venezuelans. The evidence gathered in the context of the migratory measures implemented by the Trump administration is based on a form designed to determine the alleged membership in the organization known as the Tren de Aragua. The document submitted as evidence establishes that the individual questioned must be Venezuelan, be 14 years of age or older, and not possess U.S. citizenship or residency, and based on these requirements a table is used which contains 20 criteria distributed in six subgroups (Judicial Sentences and Official Documents, Self-admission, Criminal Conduct and Information, Documents and Communications, Symbolism, and Association), in which between two and ten points are assigned according to the fulfillment of each condition, with the accumulation of eight points implying designation as a member of the Tren de Aragua.
Among the criteria, the assignment of 10 points is notable in cases of conviction for violations of U.S. law related to activities connected with the organization or for the explicit admission of membership. The existence of information from U.S. intelligence sources or foreign partners, testimonies from victims, community members, or informants, may contribute 3–4 of these points. 3–6 points may be awarded upon the verification of communications or financial transfers to known members of the organization. Indications of membership or loyalty through tattoos, clothing, group photographs, or other symbols may contribute 4 points. Social media posts containing symbols or associated references may contribute 2 points.
The evidence presented by the ACLU includes guides developed by the Department of Homeland Security and the Border Patrol for the identification of alleged members of the Tren de Aragua, in which elements such as tattoos representing trains, crowns, stars, an AK-47 type weapon, watches, the Jordan symbol, or the phrase "Real until death" are highlighted, although discrepancies exist between both guides in the interpretation of certain criteria, for example with regard to the use of sportswear associated with teams such as the Chicago Bulls, indicating a difference in the evaluation of the element as indicative of membership.
Identification of members The United States Department of Justice uses a point system to identify potential Tren de Aragua members:
Judicial Outcomes and Official Documents (15 points): Convictions as documents confirming membership in Tren de Aragua. Self-Admission (10 points): If the person verbally or in writing self-identifies as a member or associate of Tren de Aragua. Criminal Conduct and Information (17 points): Participation in criminal activities with Tren de Aragua members, financial transactions indicating criminal activity, such as money laundering Documents and Communications (25 points): Written or electronic communications with known Tren de Aragua members Symbolism (14 points): Tattoos, social media posts, graffiti marking Tren de Aragua territory, hand signs, or clothing with insignia related to Tren de Aragua observed by law enforcement, either in person or through virtual means. Association (6 points): close associations with Tren de Aragua members
Those that score less than eight points may still be deported at the discretion of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Tattoos Although some members have tattoos, the organization does not have specific tattoos that signify membership in the manner of the maras, such as MS13 or 18th Street. Rather, Tren de Aragua is reminiscent of former criminal organizations in South America including the Medellin Cartel or Cali Cartel, which similarly did not use signifying tattoos, thus preventing easy identification.
Operations Tren de Aragua engages in a variety of criminal activities including arms trafficking, bribery, drug-trafficking, illegal mining, kidnappings-for-ransom, and money laundering. It holds a particularly dominant role in human-trafficking and human smuggling in Latin America. The gang has alliances with Primeiro Comando da Capital in Brazil.
Argentina On 29 May 2025, Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich announced the arrest of 12 alleged members of Tren de Aragua, whom Bullrich accused of several offenses. Argentina had recently classified Tren de Aragua as a terrorist organization.
Chile Tren de Aragua's branch in Chile is known as "the Pirates of Aragua". Amidst the Tarapacá migrant crisis in northern Chile, Tren de Aragua engaged in trafficking of women across from the Bolivian border to Santiago. By October 2021 there were reports that Chilean authorities were conducting four different investigations related to the criminal organization. On 24 March 2022 Investigations Police of Chile (PDI) declared to have dismantled the Chilean branch of Tren de Aragua. One of the Tren de Aragua members captured in March 2022 had Interpol arrest warrants for murders in Venezuela and Peru. Six other migrant traffickers of Tren de Aragua were also captured in March 2022 by Chilean police. A Venezuelan political dissident Ronald Ojeda was kidnapped on 21 February, 2024 and his body was discovered 10 days later inside a bag which had been cemented over. On April 10, 2024, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil denied the existence of the Tren de Aragua during an interview with Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo in the city of Cúcuta. In response to this denial, Chilean President Gabriel Boric recalled Chile's ambassador to Venezuela, Jaime Gazmuri, for consultations. On 11 April 2024, Chilean authorities implicated Tren de Aragua in the murder of Ronald Ojeda, a Venezuelan political dissident and opponent to Nicolás Maduro who had been living in exile in Chile. Chilean authorities accused Venezuela's interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, of ordering Tren de Aragua to carry out the killing and paying the assassins.
The leader of Chile's Tren de Aragua branch, Rafael Gámez, was arrested in the US state of Texas in December 2024 on charges of human trafficking. Chile initiated proceedings to extradite Gámez. In January 2025 in reaction to the Chilean prosecutor's findings on Ronald Ojeda murder, Chilean Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said that Chile would appeal to the International Criminal Court if Venezuelan government involvement in the case was confirmed.
In June 2026, the largest money-laundering network linked to Tren de Aragua in Chile was dismantled. José Carlos Pérez Asencio, a Venezuelan citizen and executive at Banco Santander, had been laundering money since 2022 from Tren de Aragua's illegal activities such as extortion, smuggling, drug trafficking, and human trafficking, using bank accounts at Banco Falabella, Scotiabank, among others. 14 of the 19 detainees were members of "Los Shelby", a faction of Tren de Aragua, and one female member was also an executive at BancoEstado. The Financial Analysis Unit (UAF) alerted the National Prosecutor on at least four occasions between April 2024 and May 2026 about suspicious transactions involving individuals and companies linked to Tren de Aragua, including the Banco Santander executive.
On 14 July 2026, the Chamber of Deputies adopted a resolution requesting President José Antonio Kast to recognize Tren de Aragua as a terrorist organization. The resolution was widely approved, except by the Broad Front and the Communist Party.
Peru Due to Tren de Aragua's heavy presence in Lima, there were increased sentiments of xenophobia against Venezuelans. Following clashes between Peruvians and Venezuelan migrants at the Gamarra Market in Lima, the "Los Gallegos" chapter of the Tren de Aragua released a video stating "There will be no peace for Peruvians who support xenophobia. We will begin to kill all Peruvian motortaxi drivers." In 2023 alone, at least 183 suspected members were arrested.
United States Tren de Aragua began emerging throughout the United States during the early 2020s, which saw a surge of migrants crossing the Mexico-U.S. border, particularly from Venezuela. Telemundo, citing multiple criminal cases against suspected members of the gang, wrote in March 2024 that the group evidently "also has an increasingly widespread presence in the United States". In January 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed reports that the gang was operating in the United States. On 11 July 2024, the US Treasury Department and the White House announced sanctions against the gang and designated it a "transnational criminal organization". The State Department is also offering a $12 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the organization's leaders. In 2024, U.S. officials at the U.S.-Mexico border implemented enhanced interviews of single Venezuelan male migrants in order to screen for Tren de Aragua members. Tren de Aragua members have been linked to crimes throughout the United States, including murders.