(The Center Square) – In the 10 months after President Donald Trump designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization, more than 260 of its leaders and members have been federally indicted.
This month, five U.S. attorneys unsealed multiple indictments, including for terrorism, against more than 70 TdA members in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York and Texas, the DOJ announced.
Trump designated TdA as an FTO for the first time in U.S. history in February and directed the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to eradicate it from the U.S.
TdA, which means, “Train from Aragua,” referring to the Venezuelan state of Aragua, initially operated out of Tocorón Prison in Aragua. Its operatives have spread worldwide including into the United States under the Biden administration.
Trump made the FTO designation after more than one million Venezuelans illegally entered the U.S. and TdA crime expanded in at least 22 states under the Biden administration, The Center Square exclusively reported.
TdA members are committing terrorist acts, extortion, kidnapping, robbery, murder, drug trafficking, prostitution, sex trafficking, trafficking weapons and ammunition and partnering with a notorious cocaine trafficking organization and committing a range of financial crimes, the indictments allege.
Two major indictments were unsealed in New York and Texas charging TdA cofounders and top leaders with terrorism – the first charges of their kind, The Center Square reported.
In the Southern District of New York, alleged TdA mastermind Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, 42, of Venezuela, was indicted on charges include racketeering, providing material support to terrorists, using and carrying firearms, machine guns, and destructive devices to commit drug trafficking. According to the indictment, he issued orders from Tocorón Prison, including “acts of violence and terrorism transcending national boundaries,” The Center Square reported.
Guerrero Flores escaped Tocorón Prison in 2012 and is currently at large. A reward of up to $5 million has been offered leading to his arrest and/or conviction.
In the Southern District of Texas, four Venezuelans, including two top leaders and two high-ranking members, were indicted on terrorism charges and on charges they orchestrated an international gold and narcotics smuggling enterprise using extortion and murder, The Center Square reported.
One has been arrested; three remain at large. Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano, 37, a top TdA leader, is on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List. Yohan Jose Romero, 48, another top TdA leader, and Juan Gabriel Rivas Nunez, 44, are fugitives. Rewards of up to $5 million have been offered for information leading to their arrest and/or conviction.
In the District of Nebraska, one major TdA leader was indicted: Venezuelan entertainer Jimena Romina Araya Navarro, accused of helping Guerrero Flores escape from Tocorón Prison. She’s been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department and charged with providing material support to TdA, including related to a TdA ATM jackpotting scheme involving stealing from multiple ATMs in Nebraska.
A federal grand jury in Nebraska returned two indictments charging 54 people with using malware to steal millions of dollars in the TdA ATM jackpotting scheme. Nearly half indicted, 22, were charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, bank fraud, money laundering and other crimes. In a separate indictment, 32 people were charged on 56 counts on bank fraud charges.
In the District of New Mexico, 11 alleged TdA leaders and members were indicted on racketeering charges, accused of “kidnapping, brutally interrogating, and strangling a victim in an Albuquerque apartment, before burying his body in a remote desert grave.”
The indictment describes in detail the brutal nature of the crimes, including ordered assassinations, strangling victims, taking pictures of bodies to confirm deaths, stuffing bodies in suitcases to transport them to be buried in the desert, and cleaning crime scenes attempting to eliminate evidence.
Some of the defendants were also involved in a 2024 shootout at an Aurora, Colorado, apartment complex killing one, according to the indictment. Charges also include a range of weapons and narcotics offenses, including possession of cocaine, ketamine, methamphetamine, MDMA, fentanyl, marijuana and materials used to manufacture tusi, a popular narcotic in Venezuela.
In the District of Colorado, two alleged TdA leaders were indicted by a federal grand jury, charged with committing racketeering, robbery, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering, cyberstalking, using a firearm to commit the crimes, and controlled substance offenses. Others were charged in a jewelry store robbery in Denver. One defendant was sentenced to 240 months in prison on Dec. 17 after pleading guilty to charges including Hobbs Act Robbery and using a firearm during a June 2024 robbery.
The indictments stem from investigations led by the DOJ’s Joint Task Force Vulcan. The task force was created in 2019 by the first Trump administration to eradicate MS-13. It expanded this year to target TdA.
Information about TdA fugitives may be reported to the FBI via WhatsApp or Telegram at 281-787-9939 or online. Texas is also offering rewards for information about TdA.
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