He came to be classified as one of the most dangerous men in Venezuela.
For this reason, the United States Department of State had offered a reward of up to US$5 million for information leading to his capture.
Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, better known as “Niño Guerrero”, was considered the leader of the Aragua Train, an organized crime organization that originated in the South American nation and extended its operations in Latin American countries and on US soil.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump reported Guerrero’s death.
In a message published on his Truth Social platform, the president stated that the United States Southern Command carried out a “rapid and lethal” attack that was carried out “successfully.”
The operation was carried out in coordination with the Venezuelan government, according to Trump, who did not specify where or when it took place.
“As a result, the terrorists of the Aragua Train no longer have a sanctuary in Venezuela or anywhere else,” said the president.
What did the Venezuelan government say?
The government of Venezuela issued a statement on Friday in which it noted that in “a combined operation” between its security agencies and the United States, “in the southeast of the state of Bolívar, organized crime structures that operated in the area were dismantled.”
The Bolívar state is located in the southeast of the country.
“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 organization, was neutralized.”
“The operation had specialized technological support and was developed through cooperation mechanisms and exchange of intelligence information between the authorities of both countries.”
“We congratulate the work of all the officials and security organizations and institutions that participated in this successful operation,” said the statement released by the Venezuelan News Agency (AVN).
The information provided by the US
In the American leader’s publication in Truth Social, there is a video in which a projectile is seen hitting a building, which subsequently bursts into flames.
“Under my orders, the United States Southern Command conducted a rapid and lethal kinetic attack to eliminate ‘Niño Guerrero,’ the infamous leader of the Aragua Train, one of the most bloodthirsty terrorist organizations on the planet,” Trump wrote.
He indicated that “this action was closely coordinated with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are collaborating very well.”
“As a result, the Aragua Train terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else and, under my leadership, we will find these ruthless murderers and drug lords anytime, anywhere, to send them to the depths of hell, where they belong,” he stated.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth published in X that the capture had occurred sometime earlier this week, without offering further details.
“This action underscores the shared commitment between the United States and Venezuela to combat narcoterrorists and deny them any safe haven in our hemisphere,” he indicated.
For his part, Francis L. Donovan, commander of the United States Southern Command, referred to the operation in a publication on the X social network.
“We express our gratitude to the Venezuelan security forces for their support of the successful joint operation against a Tren de Aragua compound that resulted in the death of the leader of the narcoterrorist organization, Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias ‘Niño Guerrero’.”
“Guerrero was a wanted fugitive charged by the United States Department of Justice with ordering, directing and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the United States.”
What is known about the “Warrior Child”
Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores was born and raised in Maracay, capital of the state of Aragua, in north-central Venezuela.
According to public reports from the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela, he began to delve into crime in the early 2000s.
In 2005, he was accused of shooting a police officer who later died.
Authorities arrested him in 2010, when he first entered the Tocorón prison, southwest of Caracas, on charges of drug trafficking, homicide and robbery.
Two years later, however, he managed to escape, again committing various crimes that led him to be one of the most wanted criminals in Venezuela.
He was recaptured in 2013 and transferred again to the Tocorón prison.
In 2018, he was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the crimes of homicide, drug trafficking, identity theft and concealment of weapons of war, among other charges.
Expansion of the “Aragua Train”
According to Luis Izquiel, professor of Criminology at the Central University of Venezuela, the Aragua Train is an organization that was born more than 10 years ago in a union that controlled a section under construction of the railway that would cross the Aragua state, in the north-central part of the country.
“Its members extorted contractors, sold jobs on construction sites and became known as ‘the Aragua Train’,” In 2025, the organized crime expert told BBC Mundo.
Some of these individuals ended up in the local Tocorón prison.
Guerrero was also held in that center and “from there they began to gain strength,” said the professor.
“When he entered prison again, in 2013, the Aragua Train was still small, it was limited to Tocorón. But based on his leadership, it began to grow and strengthen,” Izquiel said in 2023, in another interview with BBC Mundo.
According to the expert, he ventured into other states, “dominating an illegal mine in the state of Bolívar, and also a drug trafficking corridor to Trinidad and Tobago, located in the north.”
Afterwards, the internationalization process of the Aragua Train would take place, first to Colombia and then to other Latin American countries – among them, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil and Panama -, following the migratory route of Venezuelans.
“He was the one who led that expansion to the rest of Latin America,” Izquiel said in that interview.
Wanted by authorities
In September 2023, the Venezuelan authorities assured that they had taken control of the Tocorón prison and that they had “completely dismantled the self-named Aragua Train.”
The Venezuelan Ministry of the Interior then announced a reward for Guerrero: “Citizen security bodies are looking for Héctor Guerrero, alias ‘El Niño Guerrero’, for his participation in multiple crimes against people and terrorism,” said that cabinet on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Several South American countries were looking for the “Warrior Boy.”
At the beginning of 2025, the United States government designated a series of Mexican cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations” and included the Aragua Train on the list because it was considered “a similar threat.”
Following a report from the Department of Homeland Security that identified alleged members of this criminal group in 16 states in the country, Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor in the White House, had included the Tren de Aragua on the list of “transnational criminal organizations.”
In December 2025, the “Warrior Boy” was charged by a federal court in New York with conspiracy to commit extortion and other crimes, including supporting terrorist activities, according to authorities at the time.
Federal prosecutor Jay Clayton then claimed that the organization was responsible for numerous acts of violence, extortion and drug trafficking in North America, South America and Europe.
*With information from journalists Fernanda Paúl and Leire Ventas