What to Know About Venezuela’s Drug Trafficking Threat to US

U.S. forces in the Caribbean killed 11 members of a drugs cartel. Who are Tren de Aragua and why do they pose a threat to the United States?

Peruvian police carry out the transfer of several members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization in Lima, Peru on Oct. 5, 2023. Cris Bouroncle/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. forces in the Caribbean killed 11 suspected members of the Tren de Aragua narcotics cartel on Sept. 2, when they fired on a boat in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Venezuela.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump added the Venezuela-based group to a list of cartels and organized criminal networks that his administration designated as “foreign terrorist organizations.”