The U.S. military killed the top leader of Tren de Aragua (TdA), a major criminal group based in Venezuela, in a military operation.
According to AFP and other foreign media on the 12th (local time), U.S. President Donald Trump said on the social network Truth Social that "U.S. Southern Command carried out a swift and lethal airstrike and succeeded in eliminating Niño Guerrero, the leader of one of the world's most notorious terror groups."
Trump also released aerial footage showing a violent explosion at a target building caused by a U.S. precision strike. Referring to the operation, he warned that members of the group would no longer be able to hide safely anywhere on Earth, including Venezuela.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also said on his X (formerly Twitter) account that Guerrero was killed in the course of an attack on the group's core stronghold inside Venezuela.
Tren de Aragua, which was hit in this operation, is a sprawling criminal organization that began in Venezuela and extended powerful influence across Latin America. The group is believed to have exploited human trafficking and illegal entry routes to expand its presence to the U.S. mainland.
Trump has criticized such illegal groups for bringing massive quantities of drugs into the United States and worsening the issue of unauthorized immigration. Accordingly, shortly after beginning his second term last year, Trump designated the group a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
Guerrero, who was killed in the operation, is the figure who grew the group into a vast transnational criminal network spanning Latin America. Earlier, the U.S. government offered a hefty reward of $5 million (about 7.6 billion won) for his capture. In January, Guerrero was already indicted in the United States on charges including drug smuggling, terrorism, and organized crime, along with former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Meanwhile, Trump said "this military action was successful thanks to close cooperation with the Venezuelan side." Local media also analyzed it as a clear example showing that security and intelligence cooperation between the United States and Venezuela has become even more solid since the collapse of the Nicolás Maduro regime.