HAMILTON, Canada, June 13 - United States (US) President Donald Trump on Thursday claimed that the US military had killed Hector Guerrero Flores, best known under his alias Nino Guerrero, the leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
"At my direction, the US Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Nino Guerrero," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, describing Tren de Aragua as one of the most bloodthirsty terrorist organisations on Earth.
Trump accused his predecessor of enabling the harm the group wrought, saying that "before I returned to office, Joe Biden opened our southern border to millions of illegal criminals".
Mentioning victims of the gang, he said the operation delivered retribution for them, their families and loved ones.
"This action was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well," Trump said, adding that Tren de Aragua no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else.
He also pointed to earlier steps by the US, including designating the group as a "Foreign Terrorist Organisation" and deporting what he called "thousands of evil criminals".
Trump further vowed to pursue remaining members of the group "anytime, anyplace", also sharing what was apparently a short video of the strike.
In a later post on US social media platform X, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also announced the kinetic strike that "underscores the shared US and Venezuelan commitment to take the fight to narco-terrorists and deny them any safe haven in our hemisphere".
"We will continue to work closely with security partners, like Venezuela - and countries in the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C) partners - to take the fight to our enemies," he added.
