CARACAS.- The criminal gang The Aragua Trainwhich nation in Venezuela and has spread to other Latin American countries, it was included in the gang affiliation list fiscal year 2024 US Customs and Border Protection (CBPfor its acronym in English).
The CBP keeps track of the alleged members of this gang who have been detained in 2023 and so far in 2024. According to the CBP report, in 2023 43 alleged members of this gang were detained. The Aragua Train in the extensive southern border of the US. By adding the detainees so far in 2024, there are 47 alleged members of the criminal gang, CNN en Español reported.
The report added that The Aragua Train It currently occupies sixth place in the number of arrests of the total of 53 gangs that make up the list.
At the beginning of April, the Republican Senator Marco Rubio He assured that criminal organizations linked to drug trafficking that operate today in Latin America, such as the Venezuelan El Tren de Aragua, are a national security problem for the United States.
“All of this becomes endemic to our national security, because ultimately whatever happens in the region, it will end here. It is located here in our banking system. It is found here in our streets, both due to the presence of drugs and these criminal organizations that migrate here,” Rubio said.
Already in US territory
The senator added that there is “evidence” of the presence of members of El Tren de Aragua in the United States. “Every day we see reports from Chicago, South Florida and New York that these gang members are here,” he pointed.
He mentioned that this gang, which emerged in the Tocorón prison, located in north-central Venezuela, is “especially cruel” and specializes in crimes of extortion, kidnapping, rape, murder for hire “and everything you can imagine.” .
Last Monday, authorities in northern Mexico said they were concerned about the increase in the presence of The Aragua Train in that region.
Carlos Manuel Salas, prosecutor of the northern area of Chihuahua, reported that they receive reports of crimes committed by Venezuelans who belong to the transnational criminal group.
They spread terror
Also, in Chile, the authorities have arrested and charged 38 members of the Los Gallegos gang, made up of 34 Venezuelans and four Chileans, and which is considered a cell of El Tren de Aragua, which in recent years made Chile its center. of operations.
“There are homicides of a severity that we have not seen before in the history of the country. I am referring to dismemberments, torture and burying people alive,” said prosecutor Mario Carrera.
The members of Los Gallegos are accused of crimes such as qualified homicide, kidnapping, carrying weapons and drug trafficking. This is the most important trial in the history of organized crime in Chile.
The authorities of the southern country have stated that El Tren de Aragua is the cause of the increase in crime and the increase in homicides.
Meanwhile, the Nicolás Maduro regime denies the existence of this transnational criminal organization, despite the fact that there is evidence of its actions in different countries in the region.
Source: EDITORIAL / With information from CNN in Spanish
