Tren of Aragua began as a prison gang in the Venezuelan state of Aragua.
In 2007, the Venezuelan government concluded an agreement with a number of incarcerated criminal leaders, which sold significant control of certain prisons in exchange for the reduction of violence between detainees. Under the direction of Niño Guerrero, Tren de Aragua used his control over Tocorón prison to build a criminal empire.
The group has managed many criminal regimes, including extortion, removal, drug trafficking, contract killings, car theft, smuggling of migrants and human trafficking.
As the group's cells have extended to other countries, it targeted communities of Venezuelan migrants, creating some of the smuggling networks of migrants and the deepest and most sophisticated sex traffic observed in the region. It has also become known for acts of brutal violence.
After Tren de Aragua lost its head office in Tocorón in 2023, its already semi-autonomous factions became more independent. With its main flight leaders, cells have started to act more autonomous – many always using the name of Tren of Aragua – and copies have emerged.
Tren de Aragua is now a strongly fractured organization which will find it difficult to regain control of the thug factions or reproduce its original expansion. Despite this, the group has become a bug for the American government, which used the threat of Tren of Aragua and its prevailing prevailing presence to justify anti-immigration policies.
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