Guerrero Flores, known as the ‘child warrior’, led the powerful Tren de Aragua gang before his demise in a raid announced by Trump on Friday
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAgence France-PressePublished: 7:22am, 14 Jun 2026The Tren de Aragua leader killed in a US-Venezuelan raid was a high school dropout who lived in comfort behind bars as he transformed a prison gang into one of the most powerful and extensive criminal organisations in Latin America.
Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias Nino Guerrero, or “child warrior”, died at age 42 in a raid announced Friday by President Donald Trump and later confirmed by Venezuela.
Founded in Venezuela in 2014, Tren de Aragua has been designated a terrorist organisation by the US and is believed to be active in eight South American countries, including Colombia, Peru and Chile.
It is accused of drug trafficking, extortion and other crimes, and Guerrero had a US$5 million US bounty on his head.
Guerrero was from the city of Maracay, about 100km (60 miles) from Caracas and after dropping out of high school quickly got involved in crime. By 2010, at the age of 26, he was already accused of robbery, murder and kidnapping.
He was imprisoned in a jail called Tocoron in the state of Aragua – hence the name of the gang – escaped, and was caught again two years later and sent back to Tocoron.
