Tren de Aragua is a transnational criminal gang with Venezuelan roots that was formed more than ten years ago. Since then, the gang has grown dangerous even inside the United States and has entered the presidential race.
The message comes from the former president Donald Trump’s description of Aurora as being “overrun” by the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang from Venezuela. That assertion has been refuted by local authorities, who assert that while the gang was active at multiple apartments, it had not “taken over” the city.
According to the Denver Gazette, Donald Trump will hold a campaign rally in Aurora, Colorado, following weeks of spreading false information about the city’s immigrant population. Friday, when former President Donald Trump is expected to hold a campaign rally at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora, is likely to bring the Whispering Pines back into the national spotlight.
At Aurora’s problematic Whispering Pines apartments, tall cameras mounted atop poles overlook multiple entrances and a courtyard. Garbage has been removed from the parking lot.
Furthermore, the property—one of three complexes at the epicenter of a controversy surrounding crimes committed by Venezuelan gangs—may soon be put up for sale. There were 54 apartment units in the complex, and most of them looked inhabited with people going about their daily business.
As assessors visited with residents to inquire about their living conditions, an Aurora police officer trailed behind them. Construction workers, plumbers, and electricians are expected to follow.
What is Tren de Aragua?
Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, also known as “Niño Guerrero” or Young Warrior, is the leader of Tren de Aragua. While incarcerated, Tocorón prison served as the de facto headquarters for the organization. The prison known as Tocorón in Aragua — a state southwest of Venezuela’s capital of Caracas — had been controlled by a group of prisoners who transformed the facility into a mini-city where convicts roamed freely, according to experts on the gang.
The prisoners came to call themselves Tren de Aragua — which means Train of Aragua
Venezuela, with a leftist government and close ties to some of America’s top adversaries, including Iran and Russia, has long been a major transit zone for cocaine smuggled by Colombian guerrillas, according to Denver 7, a local media outlet. Therefore, the domestic street gang was not regarded as a significant security threat to the United States, despite worrying American Embassy staff as they went about their daily business through the volatile capital of Venezuela.
Now, over ten years later, the gang has escalated into a threat even within American borders and has entered the presidential race in the United States amidst a wave of kidnappings, extortions, and other crimes across the western hemisphere connected to a mass migration of Venezuelan migrants.
The gang was sanctioned by the Biden administration in July, when it was added to a list of transnational criminal organizations along with El Salvador’s MS-13 and Italy’s Mafia-style Camorra. The Biden administration also offered $12 million in rewards for the arrest of the group’s three leaders. Later, this month, Tren de Aragua was designated as a Tier 1 threat by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, which ordered state police to target the gang and opened the door for harsher punishments for its members. Soon, other states might do the same.
Why Republicans link immigration to criminality
Trump has intensified his rhetoric about undocumented immigrants, whom he frequently characterizes as violent criminals, in the closing weeks of his campaign. His comments about Haitian migrants “eating the pets” in Springrield, Ohio, which he later turned into fake news, is well-known. The former president has specifically brought up Aurora as well, to highlight his point. Both cities are the result of widely shared stories on the internet that he has been eager to promote—often without providing the necessary context.
Trump shared a video of armed people prowling around an Aurora apartment building it went viral among right-wing social media influencers as well. Despite the Aurora Police Department disputing claims that an apartment complex is run by a Venezuelan gang, it has consistently asserted that members of the TdA gang from Venezuela have “taken over” apartment complexes and “overrun” the city.
(Source: Aurora Police Department)
That assertion has been refuted by Aurora city officials, who assert that while the gang was active at multiple apartments, it had not “taken over” the city. Few of the immigrants from Venezuela who make up the majority of the residents of The Whispering Pines are fluent in English. Residents expressed concern over media reports that Aurora is being taken over by gangs, according to an American who identifies as an immigrant advocate.
Still there is crime activity
A national law firm that looked into allegations of gang activity in Venezuela released a graphic image of an apartment building under siege in August. According to the law firm’s investigation, the Venezuelan gang took over the Whispering Pines apartment complex through violence and intimidation. They attempted to collect up to half of the rent from leaseholders, which dried up collections for the landlord.
The legal firm claimed that after the gang established itself at the complex, it used the units for other illicit purposes, such as the prostitution of underage clients.
Additionally, the law firm stated that the gang “operated in the open,” patrolled the neighborhood, and “terrorized the community.”
The bank that provided the landlords with a loan is taking over to evaluate the state of the three buildings at 1357 Helena. The landlords, according to court documents, have defaulted on a $7 million loan. Similar to The Edge and Aspen Grove, Whispering Pines’ residents claimed that its landlords left the property sometime this summer. The tenants claimed that they terminated each tenant’s lease and barred them from using the business website.
Although they maintained that the Venezuelan gang’s activities were restricted to a few locations, Aurora City officials have finally acknowledged that they were aware of the group’s existence in Aurora for several months. Heather Morris, the interim police chief for Aurora, claims that the apartments in question have not been “taken over” by gang members. “I’m not claiming that there aren’t any gang members in this neighborhood. However, what’s becoming clear is that this complex is not controlled by gang members.
Growing numbers of Venezuelan Americans
Eight million Venezuelans are thought to have left their country due to President Nicolás Maduro’s economic and political instability.
Initially, Venezuelans migrated to neighboring countries like Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Peru, and Columbia. However, many Venezuelan immigrants lost their jobs as a result of the economic downturn in these nations that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, and they began traveling even farther north to the United States. Just about 43 000 people have visited Denver.
Tickets for buses, trains, and airplanes bought by immigrants to travel abroad indicate that roughly half of them have stayed in the Denver metropolitan area. According to Francisco Rodriguez, an economist and professor at the University of Denver, gangs like TdA needed to diversify and expand their reach due to the economic unpredictability in Venezuela.
Trump has pledged to start deporting illegal immigrants, beginning in Aurora, if reelected.
