A newly released intelligence assessment has found that some Venezuelan government officials “facilitated” the illegal migration of members of the brutal Venezuelan criminal gang Tren De Aragua into the United States “to advance what they see as the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing governments and undermining public safety.”
However, while Venezuela’s “permissive environment enables TDA to operate… the Maduro regime probably is not systematically directing Venezuelan outflows, such as to sow chaos in receiving countries,” says the April memo from the National Intelligence Council, released Monday by the ODNI.
The memo waters down an earlier FBI assessment that the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is specifically directing TdA activities in the U.S.
But an ODNI source says that the bureau’s intelligence is the most “robust and accurate given their focus on domestic security and crimes, versus limited intelligence assessments from other intelligence elements who by law focus solely on foreign intelligence collection, and who until President Trump took office, had very limited resources focused on TdA.”
The Department of Homeland Security has identified more than 600 Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. with likely ties to TdA who crossed the border illegally during Joe Biden’s presidency.
“From 2021 to 2024 there was a spike in Venezuelan encounters at the US-Mexico border, in which some TDA members could have been present as they have generally moved with Venezuelan migrant communities and profit from human trafficking and migrant smuggling,” says the IC assessment.
The Venezuelan government gives sanctuary to TdA, “aiding and abetting their crimes and terrorist activities against the United States by enabling them to thrive.”
Two Tren de Aragua illegal aliens have been charged with the rape and murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Texas in June 2024.
In Colorado, in August 2024, armed Tren de Aragua gang members were caught on surveillance video violently taking over an apartment complex.
The IC assessment cites US law enforcement reports that members of the Maduro regime, including Diosdado Cabello, Minister of the Interior, and former Venezuelan Minister of Penitentiaries Iris Varela, “have cooperated with TDA by providing financial or materiel support, but we cannot verify the sources’ access.”
In Venezuela, an “uneasy mix of cooperation and confrontation rather than top-down directives” characterizes the Maduro regime’s ties to TdA,” says the IC report which warns that “sources could also be motivated to fabricate information,n” suggesting links between TdA and the regime.
“Maduro regime leadership probably sometimes tolerates TDA’s presence in Venezuela, and some government officials may cooperate with TDA for financial gain.
“The Maduro regime generally does not impede illegal armed and criminal groups from operating in Venezuela, but it does combat and seek to contain them when it fears they could destabilize the regime or when corrupt deals sour. Venezuela’s security services lack the capacity to fully control Venezuelan territory, giving the regime an interest in cooperating with armed groups for insight and control in areas outside the services’ traditional areas of operation. Furthermore, combatting such groups often results in personnel losses, probably encouraging the regime to at times cooperate with some groups instead of contesting them.
“Some mid- to low-level Venezuelan officials probably profit from TDA’s illicit activities… For example, local military officials have alerted other armed and criminal groups conducting aerial drug shipments to Venezuelan Air Force patrols and might have alerted TDA leadership of a planned raid in 2023 against the prison that was its base of operations.”
Since late January, border encounters have plummeted more than 80%, reaching the lowest level in decades.
“Maduro has not taken meaningful steps to curb migration, highlighting his partial accountability, probably because it has helped him retain power by having dissidents leave the country, increasing remittances to Venezuela that help ease economic strains for remaining populations, and allowing the regime to spend less on social services.
“The Maduro regime may have also welcomed the logistical, financial, and political headaches that unregulated migration has caused for the US Government, its perceived principal adversary, even if not a principal intent.”
Links between TdA and the Maduro regime were central to the Trump administration’s decision to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected TdA gang members.
“Whether TdA exclusively murders, smuggles drugs, and traffics illegal immigrants over our borders on the orders of Venezuelan leaders, or freelances for self-enrichment is beside the point,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week. “It has killed on behalf of a hostile foreign government, that government has fostered its growth, and that government has encouraged it to invade the United States to advance its interests.”
Read the full article here