(New York) The US Department of Justice announced Thursday the indictments of more than 70 people suspected of being linked to the Venezuelan-born Tren de Aragua gang, including the main leader of the organization that the United States considers terrorist.
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Currently on the run, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, aka +Niño Guerrero+ (child warrior), 42, was indicted in New York “for ordering, directing and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the United States,” according to a press release.
In detail, these are “murders, kidnappings, extortion and mutilations” and the “transport of tons of cocaine”.
“Guerrero Flores was the architect of the evolution of the Tren de Aragua from a Venezuelan prison gang to a transnational terrorist organization,” added New York prosecutor Jay Clayton, quoted in the press release.
American justice also accuses him of having “acted in concert with the Cartel of the Suns”, an organization of which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is, according to Washington, the leader.
The “Cartel de los Soles” is an organization whose existence remains to be demonstrated, according to many experts, who rather evoke networks of corruption permissive towards illicit activities.
The US government has increased the reward to $50 million for information leading to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro.
The others charged are “connected to a variety of violence in the United States and abroad, including murder, robbery, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering and trafficking in controlled substances.”
These indictments across the United States come against a backdrop of heightened tensions between Washington and Caracas.
US President Donald Trump accuses Nicolas Maduro of being at the head of a vast drug trafficking network. The person concerned denies and assures that the United States wants to overthrow him to seize Venezuelan oil.
Since September, the United States has carried out strikes against ships accused of drug trafficking in the Caribbean or the eastern Pacific, killing at least 99 people, without providing evidence that these boats are involved in drug trafficking.
This week, the US president also ordered a “total blockade” against sanctioned oil tankers traveling to or leaving Venezuela.
