Overview
- President Donald Trump announced Friday that U.S. Southern Command carried out a “swift and lethal kinetic” strike that killed Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as Niño Guerrero.
- Pentagon official Pete Hegseth posted that the strike occurred earlier in the week and that Guerrero was confirmed killed during the operation.
- Guerrero had been indicted in New York on racketeering and related charges and faced a U.S. State Department reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.
- The White House released an unclassified aerial video of a building exploding but independent verification and immediate comment from Venezuelan officials were not publicly available.
- The action continues a campaign that pairs criminal charges, sanctions and military strikes against Tren de Aragua, a prison‑born transnational gang long accused by U.S. authorities of extortion, kidnapping and drug‑related violence across the hemisphere.