The name of the ‘Aragua Train’ is not unknown in Colombiasince for several years it has been operating on the border of Norte de Santander with Venezuela and has received strong blows in Bogotá.
(You may be interested in: Video: this is how people live in the urbanization in which the Aragua Train sows terror).
It is a ‘megaband’, as it is made up of between 1,500 and 2,000 membersconsidered the most notorious in the neighboring country, since its objective has been to increase the territorial control of drug trafficking and its power over prisons.
The origin of the Train
It is well known that this criminal group has carried out its activities inside and outside prisons, but it was not exactly born there. In fact, Its origins date back to the period between 2013 and 2015, when labor unions that were working on the construction of a railway project -which never came to fruition- organized.
At that time they dedicated themselves to kidnappings, robberies and homicides in Venezuela, but they soon escalated their presence to other countries.
Although it arose out of prisons, it is considered “a gang of prison origin because it is strengthened inside the Tocorón prison, one of the largest in Venezuela, located in the state of Aragua”, says Luis Izquiel, an expert in criminal matters. So the name makes a lot of sense.
Its creators were Johan José Romer, alias ‘Johan Petrica’, and José Gabriel Álvarez Rojas, alias ‘el Chino Pradera’. The latter was killed in a confrontation with the Police in 2016.
Today the leader is alias ‘Niño Guerrero’.
(Also read: This is how the Aragua Train would be extorting merchants in Kennedy).
How do they earn income?
The Tren de Aragua collects ‘the cause’, a criminal tax that “annually could be around between a million and a half and two million dollarsbut they also control the sale of liquor, the sale of drugs, illegal gambling, prostitution, etc.”, Izquiel narrates.
His story is joined by that of the photojournalist Jesús Moreno, who assures that would have power over a gold mine in southern Venezuela: “They give a percentage to a representative of the Venezuelan state,” he adds.
The practices there are not exactly friendly, because, according to Moreno, whoever commits a crime there is murdered, “if it is a woman, they bathe her in sugar and tie her to a tree. In two weeks she dies from the bites of ants “.
(Also: The revealing audios that expose the links between the police and the Aragua Train).
It is said that 2019 was the year in which the Aragua Train grew the most, since it reached the point where up to 70 vehicles were stolen per week. Izquiel points out that this coincides with the arrival of Tareck El Aissami to the governorship of the State.
According to EL TIEMPO, serious accusations of drug trafficking and collaboration with terrorism weigh on El Aissami which, in July of that year, led the US authorities to offer a reward of 10 million dollars for his capture after being convicted by a federal court. .
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