Maduro indictment attempts to link Venezuelan leader to Tren de Aragua

The superseding federal indictment unsealed against Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday immediately after his capture closely resembles 2020 charges against him but has several important new twists: the new indictment appears to embrace controversial claims made by the Trump administration about a Venezuelan street gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA).

Maduro was captured by US forces early Saturday and ferreted out of the country after a series of explosions in the Venezuelan capital. The operation has drawn widespread international criticism and outrage from Democrats on Capitol Hill.

One of Maduro’s five co-defendants is the alleged founder of the gang, Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, who was indicted separately two weeks ago.

Though the indictment doesn’t allege Maduro ever met Guerrero Flores, it builds the case in court for what critics say are Trump’s exaggerated and unsubstantiated allegations about TdA. Trump has repeatedly insisted Venezuela’s government sent the gang to the US intentionally as a form of guerrilla warfare, to commit crimes and spread chaos, and has used the claims to further his foreign policy and his mass deportation tactics.