US kills Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang leader in air strike, Trump says
President Donald Trump said the US military killed the alleged leader of the Venezuela-rooted Tren de Aragua crime network in a Caribbean air strike. The government in Caracas called the operation a "violation of national sovereignty".
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the air strike was carried out by the US military in Caribbean waters and that the target included senior figures from the Tren de Aragua network. US defence officials said the operation fell under a "counter-narco-terrorism" framework and that the target was an armed group aboard a vessel. Local media reported six dead aboard the boat.
Venezuela's information minister called the announcement an "extrajudicial execution" and condemned the US military presence in the Caribbean. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights asked for an inquiry into possible civilian casualties and the legal framework used.
The US Justice Department had designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organisation last year. The operation is being read as another step in the Trump administration's hardening posture toward regional criminal networks. Latin American governments warned that the action could escalate tensions with Caracas further.
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