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⚡️ President Trump announced on Friday in a statement that, at his 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 Organisations on Planet Earth.’
🔹 Trump said: “Before I returned to office, Joe Biden opened our Southern Border to millions of illegal criminals, allowing this foreign army to rape, maim and murder American citizens with total impunity,” adding that during his campaign, Trump pledged to expel these ‘monsters’ from the USA and bring justice to those they slaughtered.
🔹 Early in Trump’s administration, he delivered on a promise to designate Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, deport thousands of criminals, and wage war against the cartels, who had long been waging war against US citizens, while weak leaders had left America helpless and defenceless.
🔹 Trump said that actions were coordinated with ‘friends in Venezuela,’ with whom the US are working closely with, stating that as a result, Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have a safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else: “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 said.
Hegseth Confirmed Trump’s Statement:
⚡️ Secretary of War Pete Hegseth published a statement to X confirming President Trump’s previous comments, stating the Department of War, in full collaboration with Venezuelan security forces, conducted a strike on a compound in Venezuela.
🔹 Hegseth said: “TdA founder and leader Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, aka Niño Guerrero, was confirmed killed during the strike,” adding that the operation underscored the shared US and Venezuelan commitment to take the fight to narco-terrorists and deny them safe havens in the US.
🔹 “We will continue to work closely with security partners like Venezuela, and counties in the America Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C) partners, to take the fight to our enemies,” Hegseth added.
Statement From Venezuela:
⚡️ Venezuela’s government released a statement on the assassination of Niño Guerrero, saying that the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reports that, within the framework of a combined operation between security agencies of Venezuela and the United States in the southeast of the state of Bolivar, organised crime structures were dismantled that operated in the area.
🔹 “During the development of the operation, clashes occurred with members of these criminal structures, in which Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias Niño Guerrero, leader of a criminal organisation, was neutralised,” they said, stating that the operation had specialised technological support and was developed through ‘mechanisms of cooperation and exchange of intelligence information between the authorities of both countries.’
🔹 The statement congratulated the work of all the officials, security agencies and institutions that participated in the successful operation: “The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reaffirms its commitment to the fight against organised crime and will continue to adopt the necessary measures to guarantee the peace, tranquillity, and protection of our people.”
SOUTHCOM Express Thanks:
⚡️ General Francis L Donovan, the Commander of SOUTHCOM, published a response to Secretary of War Hegseth’s X Statement, extending gratitude to the Venezuelan security forces for their extended support to the ‘successful joint operation against a Tren de Aragua compound that resulted in the death of Guerrero, who was a fugitive charged by the US Department of Justice with ordering, directing, and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the USA.
