First Tren de Aragua member extradited from Colombia to face US charges

Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald on May 15, 2026

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The United States on Thursday unveiled terrorism and drug trafficking charges against an alleged senior leader of Venezuela’s feared Tren de Aragua gang after Colombian authorities extradited him to Houston, marking the first time a member of the criminal organization has been transferred from Colombia to face prosecution in the U.S.

Jose Enrique Martinez Flores, 24, known as “Chuqui,” is accused of belonging to the inner circle of Tren de Aragua leadership and overseeing a network of criminal activities in Bogotá that included drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution and murder, according to the Justice Department.

Flores was arrested in Colombia on March 31 at the request of U.S. authorities and arrived in Houston this week for an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christina A. Bryan.

Federal prosecutors charged him with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and with providing material support to Tren de Aragua, which the State Department designated a foreign terrorist organization and specially designated global terrorist group earlier this year.

The indictment also accuses Flores of helping coordinate shipments of at least five kilograms of cocaine from Colombia destined for the United States, alleging that the proceeds were used to finance the gang’s criminal operations.

If convicted, Flores faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $10 million fine.

The prosecution is the latest development in Washington’s campaign against Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan-born criminal organization that has spread rapidly across Latin America and into the United States amid Venezuela’s migration crisis.

U.S. officials say the gang has evolved from a prison-based syndicate into a transnational criminal network tied to human smuggling, extortion, kidnappings, drug trafficking and violent crimes in multiple countries.

A federal grand jury in Houston previously charged three additional alleged Tren de Aragua leaders — Yohan Jose Romero, Juan Gabriel Rivas Nunez and Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano — with similar material support offenses.

Mosquera Serrano, who is also accused in the cocaine trafficking conspiracy, remains on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The U.S. government is offering rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction and up to $4 million for information related to Romero.

The Justice Department said the case forms part of Joint Task Force Vulcan, a multiagency initiative initially created to combat the MS-13 gang that has since expanded to target Tren de Aragua.

Colombian authorities, including the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office, assisted in securing Flores’ arrest and extradition.