US Brings First Terrorism Charges Against Alleged Venezuelan Gang Member

This is the first time the Justice Department has indicted a suspect in the Tren de Aragua Gang on terrorism charges.

The Justice Department added terrorist accusations to the criminal case on April 23 against the alleged high-ranking members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.

In a newly sealed indictment against Jose Enrique Martinez Flores, the Justice Department is pursuing the first time terrorist accusations against the infamous suspects of the Tren de Aragua gang.

The State Department designated Venezuelan gangs as foreign terrorist groups in February, and President Donald Trump in March called out alien enemy laws, declaring that gang members “are arrested, restrained, secured, removed and removed as alien enemies,” and that they could be “recharged with actual hostility towards the United States.”

Martinez Flores, 24, also known as “Thukie,” is accused of conspiring to provide and provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations, according to his indictment filed in federal court in the Southern District of Texas. He was also charged with conspiracy and distribution of Colombian cocaine aimed at distribution in the United States.

Colombian authorities arrested Martinez Flores in Colombia on March 31 after the US requested a provisional warrant for his arrest. He is still under Colombia’s custody, “more lawsuits are pending.”

The Federal Jury in Houston returned the modest indictment of Martinez Flores on April 8th. Federal authorities have accused Tren de Aragaa of being the “high rank” leader in Bogota, Colombia, and also “part of the inner circle of senior (gang) leadership.”

Martinez Flores is said to have incited the delivery of more than five kilograms of cocaine for international delivery to fund the “criminal target” in Tren de Aragua, according to the indictment.

He faces the biggest prison penalty, a $10 million fine if convicted.

Martinez Flores’ attorney information was not immediately available.

“(Tren de Aragaua) is not a street gang. It is a highly structured terrorist organization that has roots in our country during the previous administration,” Attorney General Pamela Bondy said in a statement.

“Today’s charges represent an inflection point in the way this Department of Justice prosecutes and ultimately dismantles this evil organisation.

On Monday, the Justice Department charged 27 suspects and Tren DeLagua’s allies with conspiracy to assault, sex trafficking, drug trafficking conspiracy, robbery and firearms crimes.

Mathew Podolski, a US lawyer for the Southern District of New York, explained the group’s criminal complaint.

“Today, we said that 27 members, former members and fellow Tren de Aragua, were murdered and shot, forced young women trafficked from Venezuela into commercial sex work, forced small businesses, sold “Tusi” and that it was their appeal.

Trump’s efforts to use alien enemy law are allegedly suspected by gang members who spurred multiple court battles. Last week, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting an unspecified number of Venezuelan men in current immigration custody, who are said to be members of Tren de Aragua.

Matthew Vadam contributed to this report.