The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned key affiliates of the designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), Tren de Aragua (TdA). Notably, this action includes the designation of Venezuelan entertainer Jimena Romina Araya Navarro (a.k.a. “Rosita”), who is part of a network of five persons affiliated with the entertainment industry that have provided material support to TdA. Rosita, for example, reportedly helped the notorious head of TdA, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores (a.k.a. “Niño Guerrero”) escape from the Tocorón prison in Venezuela in 2012, and others in this network have laundered money for TdA leaders. OFAC is also sanctioning five additional key TdA affiliates and one entity located in South America.
“Under President Trump, barbaric terrorist cartels can no longer operate with impunity across our borders. The Tren de Aragua network’s narcotrafficking and human smuggling operations have long posed a grave threat to our nation,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “At the direction of President Trump, we will continue to use every tool to cut off these terrorists from the U.S. and global financial system and keep American citizens safe.”
TdA is an FTO that originated in Venezuela and continues to expand throughout the Western Hemisphere. TdA engages in a range of criminal activities, including drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and human trafficking, extortion, sexual exploitation of women and children, money laundering, and murder-for-hire, among others.
The original announcement can be found here.