Venezuela’s Prison Gang Turned Transnational Criminal Empire

Tren de Aragua (TDA) began as a violent extortion racket in Venezuela’s Tocorón prison and has since evolved into a sprawling transnational criminal empire with deep roots in human trafficking, extortion, and organised crime across the Americas.

In February 2025, the United States designated TDA a terrorist organization, highlighting the group’s growing international footprint and the severity of its activities.

TDA emerged between 2013 and 2015 inside the notoriously lawless Tocorón prison in Aragua state. Its name traces back to a railway construction project where early members posed as a labour union while extorting contractors. Under the control of Héctor Rustherford Guerrero Flores, alias Niño Guerrero, the gang consolidated power inside Tocorón, using the facility as a command centre until a high-profile government raid in September 2023.

TDA is structured both hierarchically and through semi-autonomous “franchises” operating across different countries. With over 4,000 members, the group engages in a broad range of criminal activities, including human trafficking and sexual exploitation, drug trafficking and distribution, contract killings and kidnapping, illegal gold mining, cyber-crime, robbery, and extortion.

What distinguishes TDA is not only the diversity of its criminal portfolio,

but  its ability to control territory and act as an umbrella group for smaller criminal cells in areas under its influence.

Since 2018,  TDA has extended its operations beyond Venezuela into Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil, often following Venezuelan migration routes.

Its reach now includes  at least ten U.S. states: Florida, Texas, New York, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Indiana, Georgia, Virginia, and New Jersey.

Each cell functions with relative autonomy but remains linked to the core leadership, often replicating criminal models seen in Venezuela—especially debt-based sex trafficking and extortion.

Among its most lucrative enterprises is human trafficking, particularly of women and girls fleeing Venezuela. TDA's trafficking strategy follows a consistent pattern throughout Latin America and the United States. Recruiters target vulnerable Venezuelan women and girls—often already in precarious conditions—by offering jobs abroad. Victims are moved through informal crossings or smuggler-controlled corridors, with transport facilitators extorted along the way.

Once at their destination, the women are trapped in debt bondage, forced to repay inflated transport and accommodation costs through coerced sex work. Any resistance is suppressed through beatings, threats, or sexual violence. The use of debt as a tool of control mirrors trafficking models used by other major organised crime groups.

Operations in Chile were tightly controlled, with orders allegedly coming directly from Niño Guerrero. One of the highest-ranking figures was Carlos González Vaca, known as Estrella, who oversaw trafficking activities until his arrest in 2022.

Other key individuals included Luisa Moreno Rodriguez, who collected payments from victims; Hernán “Satanás” Landaeta Garlotti, who enforced compliance through violence; and Karialex Gonzalez Marrero, Satanás’ romantic partner, who was convicted in 2024 for threatening a police officer.

This cell was informally known as La Plaza de las Mujeres (“The Women’s Square”). In addition to those directly involved in managing victims, TDA cells in Chile included individuals who managed the logistical side of smuggling.

These operatives coordinated border crossings, received migrants, and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, were involved in forging PCR tests to enable travel. This infrastructure allowed TDA to move victims discreetly while evading health and border controls, further entrenching their trafficking routes.

TDA trafficking operations have reached multiple U.S. states. In Tennessee, a ring in Nashville included Yilibeth del Carmen Rivero and her son Kleiver Daniel Mota Rivero, who were charged with using force and coercion to compel women into sex work. Kleiver also faced firearm possession charges.

In Louisiana, a group linked to TDA operated across at least five states—Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Virginia, and Louisiana itself—where over 24 women were kept in rotating locations to avoid detection. This network reportedly shared resources, moved victims between states, and used similar methods of debt coercion and migrant concealment.

TDA-linked trafficking also continues within Venezuela. Biesney José Ocanto López was arrested in Aragua after posing as a woman online to lure a teenage girl with false job offers. Authorities say he planned to smuggle her through Colombia into Peru for sexual exploitation. Though Ocanto claimed affiliation with a fictitious group, police confirmed the operation aligned with TDA control in the region.

While Tren de Aragua functions primarily through structured cells, authorities have also encountered individuals acting alone or in loosely affiliated operations. Estefania “Barbie” Primera, arrested in El Paso in 2024, drugged and prostituted a migrant woman in a hotel room, using methods mirroring TDA tactics but without a broader network being clearly identified. In Venezuela, Biesney José Ocanto López lured a minor through a fake online profile, offering work in Peru. He was arrested before he could move her across borders, but authorities believe his operation aligned with the Tren de Aragua's regional control.

These cases suggest that some criminals operate under TDA’s shadow or name to legitimise their actions—or as part of informal extensions of the group’s influence.