Tren de Aragua expands criminal operations in Mexico and Brazil

The Venezuelan cartel Tren de Aragua, led by Héctor Guerrero Flores, has taken control of prostitution networks in Mexico City. According to an investigation, the group recruits young women through parties and social‑media contacts, forces them into sex work, and uses violence, extortion, homicide and femicide to maintain dominance in streets such as Sullivan, San Cosme and Tlalpan. Two cartel leaders, Nelson Arturo Echezuría Alcántara and Leslie Valery Flores Arrieta, have been detained, and the United States has offered a five‑million‑dollar reward for Guerrero Flores, who is wanted for transnational organized‑crime offenses.

In Brazil, a police operation in the northern state of Roraima dismantled a branch of Tren de Aragua that had allied with the local Red Command gang. Authorities captured 13 suspects, froze roughly R$429 million (about US$82 million) in assets, and uncovered a weapons‑trafficking and money‑laundering network that moved arms from the United States, Colombia and Venezuela to Brazilian criminal groups and facilitated cocaine trade. The investigation shows the cartel is adapting its model by partnering with existing gangs rather than establishing sole control.