US Claims: ‘Narcoterrorist’ Cartel Leader Killed in Venezuela Strike

By Staff, Agencies

The US said it killed Tren de Aragua leader Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as “Nino Guerrero,” in a strike on his compound in Venezuela, in an attack carried out earlier this week in coordination with Venezuelan authorities.

US War Secretary Pete Hegseth said the attack “underscores the shared US and Venezuelan commitment to take the fight to narco-terrorists and deny them any safe haven in our hemisphere.”

“Guerrero was a wanted fugitive charged by the US Department of Justice with ordering, directing, and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the United States,” US Southern Command Chief General Francis Donovan said.

US President Donald Trump hailed the attack as part of his effort to combat violent crime in the US.

“This action was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Guerrero was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2018 on charges including murder, drug trafficking, identity theft, and possession of military-grade weapons, but escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 2023.

Earlier last year, a US raid in Caracas led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, later indicted in New York, while since September 2025 US strikes on alleged cartel boats in the Caribbean have killed over 200 people, drawing accusations of illegality and civilian deaths from Venezuela and Colombia.