Trump designates Venezuelan gang 'Tren de Aragua,' financed by Maduro's regime, as terrorist group
The president also announced that his administration will stop buying oil from Caracas.
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In image, Donald Trump (l), Nicolas Maduro (r) and a member of the Tren de Aragua (c).
The Trump Administration began without half-measures or beating around the bush in terms of border and Homeland Security. One of its first measures has been to designate the Venezuelan criminal gang 'Tren de Aragua' - whose reach in the United States has grown significantly in recent years - as a terrorist group.
The move joins the designations of Mexican drug cartels and the Salvadoran gang MS-13 as terrorist groups, all measures amid an unprecedented immigration crisis and insecurity problems in the country's major cities.
During his inaugural address on Capitol Hill, Trump said his administration will invoke the 1798 law on the presence of "foreign enemies" on national territory, in order to order the use of the "immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities."
The Tren de Aragua - a dangerous Venezuelan gang that for years has been spreading its tentacles throughout the region - is a gang that was formed in Aragua state, in the South American country, under the explicit consent of the Chavista regime.
The regime of Nicolas Maduro, in particular,has been linked to the gang through financing.
Today, in one of his speeches, Trump again affirmed that the Venezuelan regime is sending its criminals to the US, thus managing to reduce insecurity in the South American country, one of the most dangerous in the world.
The news comes just the same day thatthe Chilean Prosecutor's Office revealed and denounced that the Maduro regime hired the Aragua Train to carry out the assassination of a former Venezuelan military man who deserted from the Army in Chilean territory, Lieutenant Ronald Ojeda.
The Aragua Train has a strong presence in Peru, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and several other countries in the hemisphere. In the U.S. its presence has been in crescendo constantly increasing, locating itself in cities such as New York, Chicago, Florida, Aurora and border cities, according to federal authorities.
#ÚLTIMAHORA Fiscalía de Chile asegura que el régimen de Maduro estuvo detrás del secuestro y asesinato del teniente Ronald Ojeda https://t.co/yYzlwWAaG7 pic.twitter.com/8nhKISo6e1
— Monitoreamos (@monitoreamos) January 20, 2025
The Maduro regime, through its Attorney General's Office, reacted to Trump's statements by asserting in a statement that Venezuelan law enforcement forces succeeded in deposing the dangerous criminal gang, a claim widely rejected by security experts.
Indeed, in an attempt to disassociate itself from the Venezuelan gang, the regime blamed foreign Colombian leaders -- former conservative presidents Alvaro Uribe Velez and Ivan Duque -- and Venezuelan opposition politicians for sponsoring the expansion of the gang, now considered terrorist by Washington, without evidence.
When asked by the press about the political situation in Venezuela and the dictator Maduro, Trump responded that the US, under his watch, is not going to buy oil from the Chavista regime.
"We're going to find out about that too, because we're going to probably stop buying oil from Venezuela. We don't need their oil. But we don't want to buy it. We don't have to buy their oil. We have plenty of oil for ourselves. And we changed Venezuela quite a bit," Trump said.
He added: "We're going to see on Venezuela, we're looking at Venezuela very strongly. It's a country I know very well for a lot of reasons and it's, boy, it was a great country 20 years ago and now it's a mess."
#URGENTE | Le preguntan a Trump si va a buscar sacar a Maduro y dice:
— Orlando Avendaño (@OrlvndoA) January 21, 2025
“Ya veremos eso. Pero le vamos a dejar de comprar petróleo. No necesitamos el petróleo de Venezuela. Eso va a tener un gran impacto en Venezuela”. pic.twitter.com/vjUxHOgNDT
Trump's words come despite the fact that a strong lobby of oil tycoons in South Florida operated to get the Republican leader closer to Caracas, trying him with a deal according to which the US would buy oil from the Maduro regime in exchange for a migration agreement.
What are the consequences of the designation of the Aragua Train as a terrorist group?
Beyond the symbolic value of labeling gangs and cartels as terrorist groups, in practice the designation gives the authorities tools to more efficiently pursue and combat these criminal organizations.
For example, thanks to the designation, the Trump Administration can apply measures that serve as a siege to block or hinder the criminal group's activity in U.S. territory.
One hypothetical measure is the blocking of accounts in the U.S. banking system or prohibitions on Venezuelan companies doing business with individuals, organizations or even governments linked to this organization, reported AFP.

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Likewise, entities or individuals linked to the terrorist group Tren de Aragua may be sanctioned by the United States under measures that include deportation, criminal prosecution or a ban on entry into the country, depending on each particular case.
The Trump Administration, should it have sufficient evidence to operate, may also use the declaration to conduct military or security operations against this organization.
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