Mexican authorities have dealt a significant blow to the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang’s expansion into Mexico City, arresting six members including a financial operator and a woman with direct ties to the notorious La Unión Tepito cartel.
Story Highlights
- Six Tren de Aragua gang members arrested in Mexico City, including key financial operator
- Arrests reveal dangerous alliance between Venezuelan criminals and Mexico’s La Unión Tepito cartel
- Gang charged with drug trafficking, human trafficking, homicide, kidnapping, and extortion
- Operation disrupts transnational criminal network exploiting Venezuelan migrant communities
Major Arrests Target Gang’s Financial Operations
Mexican Security Ministry officials arrested six alleged Tren de Aragua members during coordinated intelligence operations in Mexico City. The arrests included Nelson Arturo “N,” aged 29, identified as a local leader, along with two male associates aged 36 and 37. Authorities seized over 100 drug doses, cellphones, and cash during the operation, revealing the scope of the gang’s local operations.
The arrests specifically targeted the gang’s financial infrastructure, capturing a financial operator responsible for money laundering and drug proceeds. This represents a strategic blow to the organization’s ability to fund operations and expand their criminal enterprise across Mexico City’s urban landscape.
Dangerous Cartel Alliance Threatens Border Security
The presence of a female Tren de Aragua member with direct connections to La Unión Tepito cartel exposes a troubling alliance between Venezuelan criminals and established Mexican drug trafficking organizations. This partnership provides Tren de Aragua with local logistics networks while amplifying their reach in urban extortion and trafficking operations throughout Mexico’s capital.
La Unión Tepito’s collaboration with foreign criminal elements undermines Mexico’s sovereignty and creates new pathways for drugs, violence, and illegal activities to flow toward the U.S. border. This alliance demonstrates how unchecked migration can facilitate the establishment of transnational criminal networks that threaten both Mexican and American communities.
Venezuelan Prison Gang Exploits Migration Crisis
Tren de Aragua originated over a decade ago in Venezuela’s Tocorón prison, evolving from a prison-based gang into a transnational criminal organization amid Venezuela’s economic collapse. The gang has exploited the migration crisis that drove 7.7 million Venezuelans abroad, using migrant communities as cover for their criminal operations across Latin America and into the United States.
El secretario de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana, Omar García Harfuch @OHarfuch, informó de la captura de seis integrantes de la organización criminal venezolana el “Tren de Aragua” en la CDMX.
— Joaquín López-Dóriga (@lopezdoriga) January 13, 2026
Se dedicaban a la extorsión, trata de personas y tráfico de drogas.
Más en… pic.twitter.com/DIQYUJns9P
The Trump administration has designated Tren de Aragua as a terrorist organization and authorized naval strikes against suspected gang vessels operating from Venezuela. These arrests in Mexico City complement broader U.S. efforts to dismantle the organization, including federal charges against leader Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores for racketeering and terrorism in Manhattan federal court.
Sources:
Mexican authorities say arrested Nelson Arturo, alleged local leader Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang
Mexico arrests Tren de Aragua leader, two associates