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Friday, February 14, 2025

Tren de Aragua: The Growing Threat of Human Trafficking

The Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) is reported to be operating in 20 states across the U.S. It is heavily involved in human and sex trafficking, drug trafficking, and extortion. With January being Human Trafficking Awareness Month, this serves as a reminder to raise awareness on Tren de Aragua. 

According to the article “Derailing the Tren De Aragua,” published by The Heritage Foundation, the origin of the TdA can be traced back to May 2011 near the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. At a Rodeo prison, gang leaders confronted a Venezuelan security force of 4,000 men with tanks and helicopters. 

After 27 days of fighting, Venezuelan authorities gained control of the prison and transferred gang leaders to the Penitentiary Center of Aragua, or Torcoron prison, the birthplace of the TdA. The leaders operated out of the Torcoron prison and lived a comfortable lifestyle until Venezuelan authorities raided it in September of 2023. During the raid, weapons, swimming pools, restaurants, casinos, a zoo, and a professional baseball field were found inside the prison, showcasing the influence of the gang. 

The Venezuelan government claimed to have dismantled the TdA after the raid and transferred inmates to other prisons in Venezuela. The TdA leader, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, aka “Nino Guerrero,” and other leaders were unaccounted for. 

Exploiting Venezuelan Migrants

Numerous factors led to the rise of migrants fleeing Venezuela, allowing the TdA to take advantage of the situation. 

In 2015, President Maduro closed the borders in response to trade disagreements with Colombia, causing criminal organizations to create smuggling routes (trochas) for gasoline, which would later become routes for migrants. The U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports in 2018 also led to an increase in human trafficking. 

According to the article “Analysis of the Venezuelan Crisis: Rise in Human Trafficking,” published by the Indian Journal of Integrated Research in Law, Venezuelans began to migrate after realizing there was no hope for improvement in their country. Migrants sought work at illegal gold mines or made the trek to Colombia, whose borders were closed, and accepted help from criminal organizations, such as the TdA, who took advantage of their situation. 

Individuals seeking work in gold mines across Venezuela found themselves forced into labor and prostitution. The TdA controls several illegal gold mines in Venezuela and extracts between 30 to 50 kilos a day, equivalent to $1,710,000 a day, according to the article “Gold, Drugs, and Violence: The Aragua Train in Venezuela’s Mining Arc,” published by In.visibles. 

In Colombia, the TdA established themselves in the border town of La Parada, controlling infrastructure and charging migrants to use their routes and services. When migrants found themselves using the TdA services, they would acquire debt with the gang; in particular, women and minors forced into sex slavery to “pay off” their debt. 

Traditional prostitution is not the only operation the TdA runs; they run pornographic websites, arrange sexual services through WhatsApp and Snapchat, and provide escort services. They target their victims through social media and post fake jobs online to lure women and minors to a foreign country, or get women to fall in love with them by pretending to be their boyfriend. 

Once they arrived, the TdA forced the women into sexual services to pay off their debts. The TdA killed women who ran away, and their deaths are shared through videos and images on social media to intimidate other women from running away, according to the article “Tren de Aragua: From Prison Gang to Transnational Criminal Enterprise,” published by InSight Crime. 

By taking advantage of Venezuela’s instability, the TdA built a human- and sex-trafficking network that would eventually expand into other countries in Latin America. 

Tren de Aragua Expansion

The TdA first appeared outside of Venezuela in 2018, when political and economic turmoil occurred in Venezuela, and waves of migrants fled the unrest to other Latin American countries for refuge. Over 1 million people headed to Colombia, Peru, and Chile, and the TdA followed, expanding their criminal operations across Latin America using a three-step process. 

According to an article published by InSight Crime, the TdA uses a three-step process to expand its operations in the following phases: exploration, penetration, and consolidation. In the exploration phase, the TdA finds key locations along the border, migration routes, and city centers and establishes a foothold. Their operations are migrant smuggling, human trafficking, extortion, and sexual exploitation. 

In the penetration phase, the TdA moves into the local criminal economy, identifies new avenues to make money, and clashes with rival gangs over territory. Extortion of businesses, loan sharking, kidnapping, sex work, and drug trafficking are few activities the gang becomes involved in. 

In the last phase, the consolidation phase, the TdA builds money laundering operations and recruits locals into its ranks. The gang is able to create a financial network, allowing it to bribe and extort state officials and assassinate individuals who oppose it, allowing it to expand its influence in the community. 

Insight Crime mentions that the TdA has set up cells in the cities of La Parada and Bogota in Colombia. Cells also are in Lima, Arequipa, and Trujillo in Peru. In Chile, they established themselves in Arica, Tarapaca, Santiago, and Concepcion. 

The gang has been a challenge for the local police, who face an uphill battle as the TdA exploits border security, extorting and bribing state officials. Authorities across Latin America have named Tren de Aragua as the most dangerous gang. 

Moving to the United States

Tren de Aragua has expanded in the United States and is implementing the three-step process in various cities. The gang has been making headlines in the news: In Colorado, conducting a home invasion and kidnapping in an apartment complex; in Florida, murdering a retired Venezuelan police officer; and, in New York, the shooting of two New York City police officers. 

In 2024, more than 100 federal investigations were linked to the TdA associated with kidnapping, murder, and sex trafficking. 

The growing number of incidents by the Tren de Aragua in the United States has caused political action by President Donald Trump. During his 2024 rallies, President Trump said that he would target the TdA, calling for stricter border control policies and new efforts to dismantle the TdA. As January’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month comes to a close, it’s clear that policymakers need to understand Tren de Aragua and how they have created a human trafficking crisis in Latin America. 

Swift action against the TdA is imperative to avoid the same situation that has occurred in countries like Colombia, Peru, and Chile. 

Cyrus Norcross
Cyrus Norcross
Cyrus Norcross is a journalist, veteran, and content creator with a wide-ranging background in security, intelligence, and storytelling. A former special operations Army Ranger with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Cyrus later contracted with the Royal Air Force, training personnel in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to provide critical insights for ground operations. His transition into investigative journalism has been marked by impactful investigations into crime, and missing and murdered Indigenous people, earning awards from Military Veterans in Journalism and the Indigenous Journalist Association. Currently serving as the Community Engagement Manager with the Traverse Project, a counter- trafficking organization, Cyrus supports efforts to combat human trafficking by working closely with Tribal Governments and Tribal Officials across America. Through his journalistic writing, he addresses critical issues impacting community, national and global security.

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