What to know about the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and its presence in Canada

The violent Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, has officially established a presence in Canada, according to Canadian authorities, utilizing the country as a major logistical hub for illegal activities.

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The violent Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, has officially established a presence in Canada, according to Canadian authorities, utilizing the country as a major logistical hub for illegal activities that pose a direct threat to domestic public safety.

RCMP senior officials have said the group uses Canada as a logistical transit point for illicit goods and engages in activities that affect domestic public safety.

Tren de Aragua (Spanish for “Train of Aragua”) is a transnational organized crime syndicate based in Venezuela’s Aragua state. It uses “train” as criminal slang for a coordinated crew or operation and was formerly under the leadership of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

U.S. federal indictments and criminal complaints describe Tren de Aragua as a violent transnational criminal organization that originated as a Venezuelan prison gang and expanded its network throughout the Western Hemisphere, including into parts of the United States.

According to a superseding felony indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York, the gang, under leaders such as Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores (also known as “Nifio Guerrero”), engaged in a wide range of illicit activities including human smuggling, drug and firearms trafficking, kidnapping, robbery, extortion, prostitution and money laundering, and has formed ties with other criminal and narco-terrorist groups operating across the region.

Maduro is mentioned in a grand jury indictment as being “at the forefront of that corruption

and has partnered with his co-conspirators to use his illegally obtained authority and the

institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States.”

On Monday, the ousted Venezuelan leader and his wife pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges in their first New York court appearance since being captured in a U.S. military operation over the weekend.

The indictment further alleges Tren de Aragua has been involved in organized crime for years and was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. This reflects authorities’ view of its role in large-scale narcotics distribution and violence.

In February 2025, Public Safety Canada officially listed seven transnational criminal organizations as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code, explicitly including Tren de Aragua.

In announcing the move, the federal government said “transnational criminal organizations, including cartels, play a leading role in the production and distribution of fentanyl throughout Canada.”

The group has also surfaced in Canadian court records, including immigration and refugee proceedings.

Late last year, the Federal Court dismissed a refugee claim by a Colombian family who said they fled extortion threats from Tren de Aragua.

On Sunday, Conservative MP Shuv Majumdar said on X Canada must “stand against monsters like Tren de Aragua and the Cartel of the Suns, where generals and officials morph into narco-traffickers,” adding that “Venezuelans deserve our unflinching support,” and that criminal activity affecting Canada has its “origin story in the wake of Maduro’s tyranny.”