Who is Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang running amok in Colorado?

Venezuela’s largest criminal gang, Tren de Aragua, is wreaking havoc in Colorado, drawing national attention.

The group revolutionized crime in Venezuela and throughout Latin America, in the words of author Ronna Risquez, by running the country from prisons and expanding its reach into the Western Hemisphere. In several areas, the gang has taken complete power and usurped government authority.

A unique feature of the group is its origins as a prison gang: the entire gang was expelled from the Tocoron prison, which, before it was stormed by the Venezuelan army in 2023, had been converted into a luxurious palace with swimming pools, a baseball field and a zoo. Before the raids, more than half of the country’s prisons were controlled by gangs, the New York Times reported.

Tren de Aragua leader Héctor “El Niño” Guerrero Flores escaped from prison before the storming and remains at large. The State Department and the Justice Department are offering up to $5 million for information on his whereabouts. He is believed to be somewhere in Colombia.

While in prison, Guerrero Flores expanded the gang’s reach across the continent, and recently expanded his operations to North America and the United States.

The New York Post reported that the gang has been linked to more than 100 crimes in the U.S. The list of crimes the gang has been known to commit includes human trafficking, sex trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking, murder, money laundering, contract killings, smuggling, and other forms of theft.

One of the group’s tentacles extended to Aurora, Colorado, where the gang makes itself known.

A neighbor’s security video showed a group of gang members walking through an apartment with guns.

“This is organized. They’re visibly patrolling the property with weapons, like they’re not trying to hide them. There’s no repercussions. These are ghosts,” one Aurora resident told Fox News Digital.

Part of the reason for Tren de Aragua’s expansion into the U.S. is the deteriorating situation in Venezuela. The collapse of the economy has left the country so impoverished that gangs have been forced to look elsewhere for opportunities, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory.

“Crime in Venezuela is decreasing because of the destruction of the country’s economy… because of the loss of opportunities for crime,” OVV director Roberto Briceño-León told InSight Crime.

The gang has taken advantage of the resulting refugee crisis by infiltrating migrants and expanding their reach into surrounding countries and, more recently, the US.

Despite the documented cases of Tren de Aragua’s presence in Aurora, Aurora police continue to maintain that these are isolated reports.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“Based on our initial investigative work, we believe that reports of TdA influence in Aurora are isolated,” a statement from the department said. “We urge all community members, including members of our immigrant communities, to report crimes committed against them to their local law enforcement agencies and not remain silent victims.”

UPDATE: The City and Aurora Police Department, as previously reported, have created a special task force in conjunction with other local, state, and federal partners to specifically address concerns regarding the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) and other criminal activity impacting… photo.twitter.com/ytAhIcBxy0

— Aurora Police Department (@AuroraPD) August 28, 2024

The group has taken advantage of the border crisis, using the chaos to send members into the U.S. The group made headlines after two of its members, illegal immigrants, allegedly murdered Georgia nursing student Laken Riley during a jog in February.