Since last week, Reports have been circulating in the United States about the presence of the Aragua Train in Aurora, a city of 400,000 inhabitants close to Denver, the capital of Colorado.
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Although the topic has been talked about for several months, it became an almost national debate after The television network Fox31 published a video, which went viral, in which a group of six armed men enter an apartment complex in the city.
According to the report, sources at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have confirmed to them that The people would be associated with the Tren de Aragua, a criminal gang originating in Venezuela and whose presence is growing in the United States.
According to the same report, The criminal gang would be exercising “control” over that apartment complex where many Venezuelan immigrants reside who have arrived in the city in recent years and who are reportedly being extorted.
The report by Fox, a network that usually defends the causes of the Republican Party, has caused a stir in certain sectors of the country’s right. This is in addition to the rhetoric of the current electoral campaign in which this party accuses the Democrats of opening the door to illegal immigration and allowing the entry of criminals from other countries.
During the weekend, Former President Donald Trump used the case to attack his rivals, claiming that these gangs are taking over buildings at gunpoint. and that is a consequence of the permissive policies of “sanctuary cities” that have welcomed immigrants.
Two of the strongest voices on the issue are also members of the Republican Party: Mike Coffman, the city’s mayor, and Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky.
Coffman gave several interviews in which he confirmed the reports and warned about the seriousness of the situation. Jurinsky, for her part, maintains that she herself has helped relocate several residents who said they were threatened.
But Democratic city officials and police say the threat is not real and is being exaggerated for political reasons.
They also allude to the fact that the problem that has been recorded does not emanate from the Aragua Train but from the company that manages the buildings – CBZ Management – whose neglect of the properties has turned them into a slum.
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While both Aurora and Denver police have publicly acknowledged the presence of Tren de Aragua gang members in their cities, they say the numbers are small and that they operate in isolated areas.
“I’m not saying there aren’t gang members living in this community. But we have made an effort these last few days to ask direct questions in terms of gang activity and to make sure that people are not paying rent to gang leaders or gang members. And that’s not happening. We’ve found, in talking to residents, that that’s not the case. Gangs have not taken over apartments,” Aurora Police Chief Heather Morris said over the weekend.
If you didn’t live here, you’d swear a gang was taking over us and Aurora was under siege.
Democratic Party leaders, including City Councilwoman Stephanie Hancock, say the rail line’s presence is being overhyped for political gain.
“These stories are really exaggerated. If you didn’t live here, you’d swear a gang was taking over and Aurora was under siege. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Hancock says.
Something that the Denver Post, the main newspaper in this state, agrees with. “Has the city of Aurora been taken over by a gang of illegal immigrants? Of course not,” the outlet said in its editorial on Monday.
In fact, according to the Denver Post, the conservative and liberal mayors of Aurora and Denver have even joined together to dispel sensationalized reports of out-of-control gun violence. And it notes that Aurora’s own mayor has acknowledged that the city is not under threat.
“Nor is there a grand conspiracy to cover up the activity of the Tren de Aragua gangs. This newspaper and other media outlets have chronicled the rise of this gang in the U.S. but have also maintained a perspective on the gang’s size, threat and activities, unlike some who are using the incidents in Aurora and Denver to fuel fears about asylum-seeking migrants from Venezuela,” the newspaper said.
In addition, many of the residents of these apartments have come out to deny the accusations.
“They say there are gangs and criminals, but the only criminal here is the owner,” Moisés Didenot told a group of journalists who visited the building on Tuesday.
Hateful rhetoric towards Venezuelans worries migrants
At that same meeting with the media, More than a dozen residents demanded that city leaders hold building owners accountable for unsustainable living conditions and which include rodents, bedbugs and the absence of basic services such as water and electricity.
Gloria Tovar, another resident of the building, said she had never been threatened by gangs or even seen them. Her biggest fear, she said, is the hateful rhetoric that is being directed against Venezuelans in the wake of the news.
But according to Councilwoman Jurinsky, Residents are reluctant to speak out for fear of gang retaliation.
According to official DHS statistics, nearly 43,000 migrants have arrived in the Denver metropolitan area, which includes Aurora, in the past two years, many of them Venezuelans seeking asylum.
However, the vast majority of these have migrated to other cities to be close to family and friends.
While some claim that members of the Tren de Aragua arrived among that group of migrants and remain in the area, criminal activity has not increased since then.
In fact, Aurora’s crime rate has dropped by 20 percent through 2024 compared to 2023 thanks to declines in homicides, robberies and assaults, according to official city statistics.
To date, according to public records from the Denver metropolitan area, there have only been three cases involving the Tren de Aragua or any of its members in recent months.
Only one of them in Aurora and implicating Jhonardy José Pacheco-Chirinos, 22, in a shooting in which two people were injured. Another in Denver for the robbery of a jewelry store and an incident in which four people were arrested who had ties to this criminal organization.
What is known about the presence of the Aragua Train in the United States?
The presence of the Aragua Train in the United States, in any case, has been making headlines for at least a year. when some crimes were reported in Florida, Illinois and other cities across the country.
In July of last year, the Biden administration officially designated the group as a Significant Transnational Criminal Organization. (TCO), a category that provides for sanctions by the Treasury Department.
In Aurora, authorities have also created a joint task force between the police, the DEA and other agencies to pursue the organization.
On Tuesday, city police reported the arrest of four people associated with the Tren de Aragua near the apartment complex in question, but on charges related to drug possession and car theft.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
Correspondent for EL TIEMPO
Washington
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