2023-06-08 23:51:18
-What year does the origin of the criminal gang of the Tren de Aragua date back?
The first records of an organization operating under the name of Tren de Aragua are from 2014. It is possible that from before. In 2012 and 2013, their bosses were already in prison -in Tocorón, Aragua state, Venezuela-, they had leadership and continued to commit crimes or command so that it might happen outside. It may have been created a little earlier, but the date on which it is only known is 2014 and it was born in the Tocorón prison.
Also read: SMP: man is shot to death by members of the ‘Tren de Aragua’ | VIDEO
–This prison is considered the most dangerous in Venezuela and also one of the most insecure in the region. How was your experience entering it? Did you study the land before entering as the alleged relative of one of the inmates or did you contact someone who was inside?
I didn’t actually contact any person inside. One of the things that journalists who have this type of work must take into account is that not only can we put ourselves at risk, but also our sources. The latter are people who can give you information, such as a security officer or a prisoner, who will be more exposed because he remains inside the prison. For this reason, in these cases, I try not to contact people who are in prison because I don’t want to put them at risk.
What I did was, with people who are outside who are already released and relatives, learn what the dynamics were to enter. Once with this, I prepared logistics with four people I trust and this allowed me to have security measures with monitoring.
–The Aragua Train has taken on a criminal role in Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia despite the fact that in these countries there is not a great crisis like the one in Venezuela. What has favored the expansion of their criminal activity?
The first trigger for the expansion of the gang is the complex humanitarian emergency that is still being experienced in Venezuela. Some of the leaders of the Tren de Aragua begin to leave the region for other countries in search of the possibility of finding new illegal or criminal income, because that is the activity they are dedicated to.
In principle, there was an internal movement towards the border areas where income might be generated from drug trafficking, illegal mining, smuggling and trafficking of migrants. Then they also begin to see the smuggling of Venezuelan migrants as a possibility of “business” in other countries in the region. Actually, they are its first victims. It is not that the Tren de Aragua came out with migration, but rather when they saw that other countries and states began to deepen the restrictions for the entry of Venezuelans, this somehow forces the income to be given irregularly. This was established as a source of illicit business for criminal groups, only for the Tren de Aragua. People are not going to stop leaving Venezuela, they are going to look for mechanisms to enter and, in these cases, criminal groups are strengthened because they offer it.
“Some of the leaders of the Tren de Aragua begin to leave the region for other countries in search of the possibility of finding new illegal or criminal income”
–Even though the gang is also being recognized as a drug trafficker, their main crime committed in the country -Peru- would be human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, do you think that the constant problems between the factions have not favored them taking Greater dominance in other crimes?
I think its strength also depends on its -illicit- business opportunities. They became very strong in Chile because there was an opportunity in the sense that there were no armed groups that competed with them, for example in trafficking for sexual exploitation. In the case of Peru, it was in the first country where the presence of the Aragua Train was identified apart from Venezuela and it was very soon, in 2018, when the arrest of the ‘Catire’ was announced.
Also read: San Martín de Porres: businessman denounces extortion by alleged members of the ‘Tren de Aragua’
– Now that you mention ‘Catire’, who actually caused a stir in the country because he showed an extreme level of violence that was something new here. This hitman liked to record his victims. He enjoyed the pain of others. He was arrested in 2018 by the robbery division of the police. In 2020, the ‘Gallegos’ arrive and try to immediately take the place of sexual exploitation. Could it be said that the Aragua Train in the country had two phases?
No not at all. What happens is that the Aragua Train is multipurpose, that is, they have many activities. I identified more than twenty to which they are dedicated and generate income. In addition, they also have a function as service providers. If you need women for sexual exploitation, they take care of it. If what you need is to rob banks, they take care of it. If what you need are hitmen, they take care of it. In other words, they are adapting to the needs of the “market” -illegal- where they are.
– How important is it that Tocorón continues to be managed by the ‘Niño Guerrero’ for the entire Aragua Train to work?
Well, that jail is the bunker, the operations center. It is very important for the organization, not only for the operation, but also to generate from there people who can continue to be linked and work for it.
“In the case of Peru, it was in the first country where the presence of the Tren de Aragua was identified apart from Venezuela”
–Have you been able to detect who the recurring victims of the Aragua Train are? At least here, in Peru, they have focused a lot on penetrating the informal sectors by extorting money, collecting quotas, making ‘drop-by-drop loans’ and hit men.
The main victims are the Venezuelan immigrants because they know them, because they know that they are going to be afraid of them and that they are going to give in. Then, they certainly focus a lot on the trafficking of migrant women and even Colombian women, so these would be other victims. Also merchants, businessmen who are extorted. On occasion they have also attacked security officials.
Why is your level of violence so high?
I do not necessarily consider the Train from Aragua be an extremely violent organization. Use violence when you need to use it to send a message to whoever intends, in some way, to violate your rules or pass over them. That’s why they record, to send a message. But in reality they don’t use violence for everything, it’s a group that tends to seek negotiation, seek to adapt and avoid extreme violence so as not to be exposed, it’s just that they don’t always succeed.
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