Heavily armed members of the notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Michoacán, Mexico. Photo: Cuartoscuro.
By Misión Verdad – Mar 21, 2024
Regarding the network of organized crime in Latin America, the narrative of attributing to the Venezuelan state the responsibility for the supposed expansion and strengthening of the mega-gang Tren de Aragua has been gaining steam. This is part of the media campaign that intends to criminalize the Venezuelan state in order to create a fictitious enemy to justify the international pressure campaign led by the United States.
It is therefore imperative to expose the real criminal structures with the greatest power in the region, those that have been able to infiltrate the state institutions in the countries where they operate.
During a press conference, Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab highlighted the existence of the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, both with intermittent territorial control in large parts of Mexico, where they carry out drug trafficking, human trafficking—including trafficking of migrants, and other crimes that make the two the organized crime gangs with the greatest presence in the region. These two cartels are present in more than 100 countries and have more than 45,000 members, associates, and collaborators.
Similarly there exist the mara structures that emerged from the street gangs of Central American immigrants in the United States in the 1980s and, due to social inequality in the US and racist immigration policies, have mutated into highly organized criminal cells with control in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, countries where high homicide rate is a common factor.
Similarly in Brazil operates the First Capital Command (PCC), which originated from the Red Command, which in turn emerged in São Paulo during the 1990s as a response to Brazil’s violent prison system. Formed by prisoners seeking to defend themselves, the organization expanded and waged a bloody battle for territorial control, turning into one of Brazil’s most powerful gangs, which also operates internationally.
In Colombia, the biggest exponents of the criminal ecosystem is the Clan del Golfo, also known as Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), and Los Urabeños or Clan Úsuga, which operate as organized narco-paramilitary armed entities and are part of the internal armed conflict in Colombia. These gangs are only two among several organized crime groups existing in the country.
In Ecuador, criminal gangs competing for control of drug trafficking routes have institutionalized violence in society and impacted political life through the assassination of public figures, from mayors to presidential candidates, which is evidence of the weakness of the Ecuadorian state institutions. Gangs such as Los Choneros, Los Tiguerones, Los Lobos, and Los Lagartos are expanding and forming international alliances with stronger criminal groups. For example, Los Choneros have alliance with the Sinaloa cartel, while Los Lobos have a pact with the Jalisco New Generation cartel.
The mythification of Tren de Aragua
Parapolitics is a manifestation of criminality that operates independtly, while engaging in illegal activities in a systematic way. This symbiosis between criminal gangs and state institutions, described by authors Eric Wilson and Tim Lindsey, reveals a complex web of influence and corruption that undermines the legitimacy and proper functioning of government.
This could very well characterize the states in which the aforementioned criminal gangs operate, and every time a criminal originating from those countries commits a crime outside their borders. However, as Venezuelan Attorney General Saab explained, this parapolitics does not exist in Venezuela, therefore the Tren de Aragua narrative appears to be the weaponization of organized crime against Venezuela.
This leads to another necessary demystification. The Tren de Aragua has been the subject of a disinformation narrative that has distorted its true nature. There is no evidence to support the claim made by international media describing it as a cross-border criminal network. International investigations have shown that individuals arrested abroad and accused of belonging to Tren de Aragua are not actually affiliated with the criminal organization, and some do not even have any criminal record in Venezuela.
“A recent example is the case of the regrettable murder of Laken Riley by a Venezuelan immigrant in the United States,” Attorney General Saab stated. “Some US parliamentarians have tried to link this crime to Tren de Aragua, however, the person arrested for the murder does not belong to the gang and was never a member. In this case, the brother of the murderer allegedly had links with the gang, but that allegation is based only on tattoos. There is no concrete evidence linking the murderer to Tren de Aragua.”
Eradication of crime in Venezuela
In 2019, investigations began against Tren de Aragua, which initially operated in Aragua state and gradually expanded to other regions such as Carabobo, Guárico, Caracas, Yaracuy, Zulia, Lara, Cojedes, and Bolívar. The Venezuelan authorities dismantled this gang in two phases. In the first phase, its leaders were located and the organization was dismantled, resulting in the arrest of 28 members and the issuance of arrest warrants for another 46 individuals. Among the wanted criminals was Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias El Niño Guerrero, while another of the gang’s principal leaders, Carlos Enrique Gómez Rodríguez, known as El Conejo, was killed in the security operations.
The second phase began with the seizure of the Tocorón prison as part of the Gran Cacique Guaicaipuro Liberation Operation, which focused on dismantling the gang’s financial network. Similarly, the Venezuelan authorities seized other notorious prisons, such as the prisons in Yaracuy and Trujillo, as well as the Tocuyito prison. Searches, seizures of vehicles and real estate were carried out, and 16 people were arrested, with 14 in judicial proceedings. In total, 44 people were detained and arrest warrants were issued against 102 people for their involvement with Tren de Aragua.
Recently, Gerson Isaac Guerrero Flores, brother of El Niño Guerrero, was arrested in Spain at the request of the Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office, and his extradition process has been initiated.
The Venezuelan state’s fight against mega-gangs has been constant, with the dismantling of at least 10 more gangs since 2019. Thanks to these joint actions of the government authorities and the justice system, Venezuela has recorded a significant decrease in crimes, for example, the reduction of vehicle theft by 93%, qualified homicides by 87%, and aggravated robberies by 77%.
In the opinion of some, the fake narrative of the link between the Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government could be innocuous and have no real impact on the daily life of the country. However, US congressmen have asked President Biden to declare the gang as a Transnational Criminal Organization, which would add new elements to the fake dossier of failed state against Venezuela and provide a novel legal tool: the 2011 Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime and the 2017 Presidential Executive Order on Federal Law Enforcement in Relation to Transnational Criminal Organizations and the Prevention of International Trafficking. These, together with previous US investigations such as the Douglas Farrah Report on the so-called Joint Bolivarian Criminal Enterprise, could serve as more excuses to intensify the aggression against the Venezuelan State which has nothing to do with Tren de Aragua and organized crime.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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Misión Verdad
Misión Verdad is a Venezuelan investigative journalism website with a socialist perspective in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution
