Breaking: Trump says US has killed leader of Venezuelan drug cartel in air strike

Trump says US has killed leader of Venezuelan drug cartel Tren de Aragua in air strike Sat 13 Jun 2026 at 11:25am Donald Trump says the US has killed the leader of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua, Niño Guerrero, in a "kinetic strike". "At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero," the US president said. Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores is better known by his alias, Niño Guerrero, and is known by the US as a Venezuelan drug trafficker and leader of Tren de Aragua. In January 2026, Guerrero was named as a co-defendant in the indictment of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro. "Early in my administration, I delivered on my promise to designate Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, deport thousands of evil criminals, and wage war against the cartels," Mr Trump continued in his post on Truth Social. "This action was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well. "Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else … we will find these vicious murderers and drug lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong." Loading