Overview
- U.S. Marshals executed a provisional arrest warrant requested by Chile, transferring Rafael Enrique Gamez Salas from Bureau of Prisons custody and presenting him before Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick, who remanded him.
- Chile seeks his extradition on seven counts that include criminal association, extortion, unjustified firearm discharge, kidnapping resulting in homicide, and kidnapping for extortion.
- Chilean authorities allege he directed multiple kidnappings and extortions for Tren de Aragua’s Chile cell, with a February 2024 abduction ending in the victim’s body being found concealed in concrete after perpetrators posed as police.
- Prosecutors in Chile also tie him to a deadly April 2024 confrontation that killed a police officer, additional kidnappings in February and June 2024, and an attempted kidnapping in March 2024.
- U.S. officials highlight joint investigative work as he had been removed to Venezuela in 2023, later reentered illegally, was convicted of human smuggling in 2025, pled guilty to illegal reentry, and was in federal custody when the extradition request was executed.