Is the Aragua Train in Mexico? This is what we know

( Spanish) – A new and dark protagonist seems to have arrived in the dangerous Ciudad Juárez, in northern Mexico, where authorities say they have detected the probable presence of one of the most dangerous criminal gangs on the continent: the Aragua Train.

This criminal group emerged in the Tocorón prison, in north-central Venezuela, in the first decade of the 2000s, when it began to consolidate its power in that South American country. In 2018, it began its international expansion and diversified its criminal activities into extortion, human trafficking and drug trafficking.

Its members have left their mark in other southern countries such as Peru, Chile and Colombia.

“In Colombia the news shows that the Tren de Aragua is a criminal group outside the law,” a migrant from that country who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from the gang told in Ciudad Juárez.

For months, the authorities of the Mexican state of Chihuahua have assured that they have strong indications that the members of this organization operate alongside local groups in the migrant smuggling business, which, according to their estimation, generates profits of US$100 million per month.

For this reason, they created a special intelligence team to investigate the expansion of this gang that is already leaving its mark in central and southern Mexico.

“We detected the probable participation of members of the Tren de Aragua with local cartels, but we do not have any detainees from that group, that is also a reality,” the Secretary of Public Security of Chihuahua, Gilberto Loya, told .

The authorities say they have complaints of many Venezuelan migrants who remained kidnapped by members of that gang.

“When we rescued them, they told us that their relatives in the United States or Venezuela, who spoke with the kidnappers to negotiate their release, had the same accent and even the same idiosyncrasies that they used to understand each other,” Loya said.

Ciudad Juárez is a key place in Mexico. For many migrants, it is the last place they set foot before crossing into the United States, a factor that has favored the expansion of this gang throughout the country, as confirmed by the Secretary of Public Security of Chihuahua.

“What does the Aragua Train offer that in this case makes it more attractive? In addition to its ability to spread across various territories, it has been very efficient in controlling human trafficking,” said Armando Rodríguez, a specialist in security issues.

The name of this band is known and feared.

“It is a gang that harms migrants,” Fidelina Vartare, a Honduran migrant in Ciudad Juárez, told .

Several of the migrants consulted in Ciudad Juárez say they know about the Aragua Train, but preferred not to speak or remain anonymous out of fear of this group.

“These are delicate issues, they are dangerous criminal groups,” said a Colombian migrant in conversation with when remembering everything he heard about that organization in his native country.

Chihuahua authorities say they have not had sufficient collaboration from the Mexican government.

“We have shared this information with the remaining security forces, but there is no precise collaboration on this specific issue,” said Loya.

The Secretary of Citizen Security of Mexico, Omar García Harfuch, said that the Aragua Train is not registered as the “main generator of violence” in the country.

“There are arrests of several criminal groups from Venezuela, from South America; However, we do not have this group registered as the main generator of violence,” he added.

After Secretary Loya’s statements, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, publicly asked him to contact the central government to talk about the issue.

Analyst Armando Rodríguez assured that what Mexico needs the least now is a new criminal group that is operating solidly in the territory.

In Mexico, organized crime already has its criminal dynamics and crime rates have remained high for years that the presence of the Aragua Train in the territory could only generate more chaos, according to Rodríguez. “It is essential to control the expansion of a gang of this type,” he added.

While the authorities act and this gang positions itself as the days go by, the most vulnerable and affected are the migrants, whose risk of being victims of extortion and kidnapping increases.