By Antonio Maria Delgado
Miami Herald
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Thursday designated the violent Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua as a “transnational criminal organization,” a move that should aid U.S. law enforcement agencies to allocate additional resources to combating the gang’s spread into the United States.
The announcement comes amid news that the organization has been establishing operations in major U.S. cities, with its members hiding among the thousands of Venezuelans migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. from the Nicolás Maduro regime.
The designation was accompanied by a $12 million reward offered by the State Department and the Justice Department for information leading to the arrest of top Tren de Aragua leaders: Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero, aka ”Niño Guerrero” (up to $5 million), Yohan Jose Romero, aka “Johan Petrica” (up to $4 million), and Giovanny San Vicente, aka “Giovanny,” “Viejo Viejo” and ”“El Viejo” (up to $3 million).
“Today, the Biden-Harris Administration took new actions to halt the spread of Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization from Venezuela that is involved in violent criminal acts, and hold their members and associates to account,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
“As a result, all property and interests in property of Tren de Aragua that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked. In addition, the Department of State, in coordination with the Department of Justice, is offering up to $12 million in financial rewards for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of three leaders of Tren de Aragua”, it added.
The designation gives the federal government the ability to impose sanctions on the mega-gang and its members, making it easier to freeze assets and restrict their travel and would also prompt U.S. federal agencies to prioritize the threat posed by the gang.
News that members of the violent gang have committed crimes inside the United States has sparked concern among U.S. lawmakers, who had asked president Biden previously this year to issue the designation.
The group “has been associated with a crime wave across Latin America,” Miami U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar told the Miami Herald earlier this year. “For example, there has been a 700% increase in kidnappings in Santiago de Chile associated with the presence of this gang. And this major crime threat has now arrived in the United States.”
Arising out of a Venezuelan prison and quickly expanding to become an umbrella organization for other gangs, the so-called Tren de Aragua, or Aragua Train, for the Venezuelan state where it began, for years has dominated crime in vast areas of the South American country, specializing in a long list of crimes ranging from extortion, car-theft and kidnapping to drug-trafficking, prostitution and murder for hire.
As an estimated 7.7 millions Venezuelans left their homes to migrate to other countries in the past 10 years, the gang saw in the exodus an opportunity to grow exponentially, increasing its ranks from the estimated 400 members to an army of more than 3,000 strong reportedly operating now in Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Central America, in addition to Venezuela.
McClatchy DC reporter Michael Wilner contributed with this story.
_____
©2024 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.