Colombian Forces Arrest Suspected Tren de Aragua Leader in Joint Operation With U.S. Authorities

Colombian authorities arrested Luis Saúl Pérez Nieto, identified as a high-ranking figure within the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua, in an operation announced Friday by the U.S. Southern Command. The capture, which took place Thursday and involved the Drug Enforcement Administration, represents a significant success in joint anti-narcotics efforts between the two nations and signals rapidly expanding security coordination under Colombia’s newly inaugurated conservative President Abelardo de la Espriella.

Pérez Nieto, operating under aliases “Páez” and “Nairobi,” held responsibility for overseeing the gang’s weapons and drug-trafficking operations throughout the region, according to Colombian law enforcement officials. His arrest demonstrates the administration’s commitment to dismantling transnational criminal networks and comes weeks after de la Espriella took office pledging aggressive action against drug traffickers with U.S. backing, a departure from policies of his progressive predecessor.

The suspect escaped from Venezuela’s Tocorón penitentiary in 2023 alongside gang leader Héctor “Niño Guerrero” Guerrero Flores, who was subsequently killed in a U.S. military operation conducted in rare coordination with Venezuelan authorities earlier this year. Colombian and Peruvian authorities indicate the United States requested Pérez Nieto’s arrest on charges including terrorism, money laundering, drug trafficking and criminal conspiracy, though specific case details remain undisclosed.

The arrest reflects broader regional shifts as South American governments increasingly align with Trump administration security priorities. This week, U.S. Southern Command chief Gen. Francis Donovan visited Colombia and Ecuador to coordinate strategy targeting cartel operations along their volatile shared border, an area long plagued by drug smuggling, illegal mining and human trafficking.

Chile additionally reported Friday the arrival of two Tren de Aragua figures extradited from the United States and Colombia to face charges in connection with the 2024 abduction and murder of former Venezuelan army Lt. Ronald Ojeda. Authorities charged Rafael Enrique Gámez Salas with kidnapping and extortion, while Alfredo Camilo Carrillo Ortiz, known as “El Gocho,” faces accusations of planning the killing and managing the location where Ojeda’s body was discovered buried in Santiago.