Police chase South America to arrest Niño Guerrero, leader of the Tren de Aragua megagang

To stop Héctor Guerrero Flores, known as the “Warrior Boy” and leader of the megaband Aragua Trainis no longer just an objective of the Venezuelan authorities.

The police forces of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru They came to the search for Guerrero, because the government of President Nicolás Maduro was unable to stop him during the operation to regain control of the prison that served as the center of operations of the most important criminal organization in Venezuela and one of the most powerful Of region.

LOOK: How Latin American prisons became command centers for some of the region’s major drug gangs

On September 21, 11,000 Venezuelan police and military entered Tocorón, a Venezuelan prison located about 140 kilometers southwest of Caracas, which was dominated for years by Guerrero and members of Trem de Aragua.

However, authorities did not find “Child Warrior” inside the prison. Maduro said “corrupt” authorities notified the Trem Aragua leader about the operation so he could escape.

“Unfortunately, due to the corruption of a group of officials who are already in prison, they alerted these prans and criminals of the release operation. They are detained and will be tried and punished,” said Maduro in a televised speech on Monday, September 25.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said he has requested cooperation from other countries to capture “Niño Guerrero.” (Getty Images).

The president said his government would offer a reward to anyone offering information on Guerrero’s whereabouts.

He specified that 88 people linked to the organization were arrested and stated that he asked authorities in other countries for help in arresting other fugitives from the criminal group.

“We coordinate with the governments of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile so that the search, pursuit and capture operation against these criminals is international,” he stated.

The Venezuelan Minister of Interior Relations, Remigio Ceballos, added that Venezuela is positioned “geopolitically to collaborate and contribute to the citizen security bodies” of other countries, with which it is in “permanent contact”.

However, the NGO Venezuelan Penitentiary Observatory, specialized in defending the human rights of prisoners, warned in a statement that Guerrero would have negotiated his departure with the government before taking prisoner.

International alert

The Peruvian Minister of the Interior, Vicente Romero, assured that the Peruvian authorities have redoubled their surveillance and police intelligence work to prevent the “Niño Guerrero” from entering the country.

For his part, General Óscar Arriola, head of Peru’s National Directorate of Criminal Investigation, said that his country’s government will offer a reward to anyone who provides information that leads to Guerrero’s capture.

At the Peruvian Ministry of the Interior “There is a rewards commission that works in the Vice Ministry of Internal Order”Arriola said according to local newspapers.

He added that the Lima authorities work in coordination with the Venezuelan government and maintain “official communications” with Colombia, Ecuador and Chile to capture the leader of Trem Aragua.

Venezuelan authorities reported the seizure of weapons of war inside the Tocorón prison. (GET IMAGES).

“First (we decided) to look very closely at the border, at the same time to carry out an analysis, and then from the investigation and intelligence we also look at those people we have under investigation and who are the main members of this mega transnational. -gang,” he indicated.

For your part, Colombian authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Guerrero.

Sandra Patricia Hernández, commander of the Metropolitan Police of Bogotá, highlighted that the authorities are working together with Interpol in light of the possibility that Guerrero is in Colombia, reported the newspaper El Tiempo.

Ecuador’s Interior Minister Juan Zapata told the newspaper El Expreso that his office took “corresponding actions” to prevent Guerrero from entering Ecuadorian territory.

The members of Trem Aragua have been on the radar of authorities in other South American countries for more than a year.

In July 2022, President Gabriel Boric said that members of this organization were “not welcome in Chile”.

“We will pursue them, we will arrest them and, if necessary, we will expel them,” he added. “We will not tolerate concern about crime.”

Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores was born and raised in Maracay, capital of the state of Aragua, in north-central Venezuela.

Venezuelan judicial authorities report that Guerrero began his criminal career in the early 2000s. and was accused of shooting a police officer who died in 2005.

“Niño Guerrero” was arrested in 2010, when he entered Tocorón prison for the first time, on charges of drug trafficking, murder and robbery.

Two years later he managed to escape and committed new crimes that led him to become one of the most wanted criminals in Venezuela.

Guerrero was captured again in 2013 and detained again in the Tocorón prison.

He was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the crimes of murder, drug trafficking, identity theft and concealment of weapons of war.among other charges in 2018, for which he did not serve his entire sentence.

Venezuelan journalist and researcher Ronna Rísquez, author of the book “El Tren de Aragua. The gang that revolutionized organized crime in Latin America”, warns that the intervention in the prison where this megagang emerged does not imply that the organization has been dismantled.

In addition to having found weapons of war, grenades, explosives, rocket launchers and ammunition, the Venezuelan authorities indicated that in the prison they discovered tunnels to the outside and the inmates’ escape was frustrated during the operation.

The prison had facilities similar to those of a hotel, such as a swimming pool, nightclub, playground, casino, restaurants with terraces, bars, liquor stores, ATMs and even a zoo that displayed jaguars, pumas and ostriches.

Source: Elcomercio