- Republican candidate Donald Trump visited the town of Aurora last week, describing it as a city “invaded” by the Aragua Train, a criminal gang of Venezuelan origin | Photo: EFE
Moisés Didenot and his wife were talking with their neighbors outside the apartment complex where they live. It was a Friday night, the summer sun had already set and several children were playing under the watchful eyes of their parents.
Suddenly, four men and a woman – some armed and wearing balaclavas – approached: “We have come to protect you from crime,” they told them. Surprised, they asked them to leave because there were minors in the area.
Aurora, a Denver suburb where more than 40,000 Venezuelan migrants like Didenot have arrived in the past two years, has become ground zero for misinformation in the Nov. 5 U.S. election.
Former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump (2017-2021) visited Aurora last week, depicting it as a city “invaded” by the Aragua Train, a transnational criminal gang of Venezuelan origin. Local authorities have refuted this narrative, accusing the Republican of being “grossly exaggerating.”
In the midst of this political storm, migrants describe an atmosphere of “fear” and report intimidation, while they fight to build a life in the United States to be able to support their loved ones in Venezuela.
“Mischaracterized” incidents
The visit of the armed group to Didenot’s house happened four days before the presidential debate in September, when Trump replied on national television to false information that was already viral on social networks: the Aragua Train had taken over several buildings in Aurora.
In reality, both the residential complex where Didenot lives and three others in the city are owned by the same company, involved in legal trouble since 2023 due to the deterioration of the apartments, the Aurora mayor’s office explains to EFE.
According to local media, the owner of the company himself is the one who created the rumor of chaos in the buildings, and shortly after a video in which several armed men are seen entering one of the apartments was spread across the main national television networks.
No indications
Aurora Police have arrested a dozen people related to the Aragua Train who have been charged with a series of crimes, including assault, domestic abuse and attempted murder. Most of them, under 25 years of age.
The mayor’s office clarifies that these are “specific incidents” that have been “mischaracterized.”
The residents of the apartments agree with this vision and even question whether the detainees are really members of the criminal group.
Several migrants who ask to hide their identity tell EFE that they believe that the arrested young people use the name of the Tren de Aragua to intimidate, but they are not linked to the organization.
Mike LaSusa, researcher at the InSight Crime think tank, explains to EFE that there are no “indications” that the gang operates as a “coordinated” group in the United States, but that its presence is linked to individual cases.
“Deplorable” conditions
The buildings have been abandoned by the company, which has not collected rent for several months. Several windows are broken, the stairs look gnawed and there are broken furniture and garbage bags in the hallways.
For several weeks now, Carlos Daniel Ordosgoitti and his girlfriend, Iranny Carreño, have not been able to sleep in peace because of the mice, the bedbugs, and the fear of strangers arriving.
The conditions in which we are living are deplorable,” says the 36-year-old Venezuelan. “It’s sad because you stop every day, in the extreme cold or heat, wanting to get ahead and you find this reality.”
In early September, Ordosgoitti gave an on-camera interview to a young man who claimed to be a “journalist.” Days later, he watched in horror as an edited photo of himself, with tattoos on his arms and a gun, appeared on YouTube.
“They have incited hatred, racism and there are people who are very afraid,” says this father of three children who still live in Venezuela and to whom he sends money he earns by installing internet in homes.
For his part, Didenot decided to look for another place to live after signs were posted on an adjacent house alerting passers-by to “do not pass” because the Aragua Train was there.
“I have applied to about 10 places, but they don’t want to rent to us; I think because we are Venezuelans,” he says, lamenting that with each application he has had to pay a non-refundable fee of up to $200.
Didenot is not the only one who has had a hard time finding a stable income. On the streets of Aurora you can see migrants cleaning windows at several traffic lights.
José works every morning on an avenue. The strategy to make drivers smile: draw a heart with soap on the windshield.
Some receive him kindly and give him bills of up to twenty dollars. Others insult him and have even threatened him with guns.
“Perhaps it is because they are things that were not seen here, like me, for example, here at a traffic light,” argues the 32-year-old man. “Maybe it’s unusual for them and they get uncomfortable.”
With information from EFE
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