One of Venezuela’s first “mega-gangs,” known as Tren del Llano, have suffered months of targeted operations by security forces since 2021 and may now be on its last legs.
By Insight Crime
Jun 23, 2022
While the gang has existed since 2008 in the central states of Guarico and Aragua, it apparently recently overextended itself as it expanded into the state of Sucre. In November, reports emerged that the group’s leader, Gilberto Malony Hernández, alias “Malony,” and members of the gang stole a cocaine shipment. This load was allegedly linked to the Cartel of the Suns, a term used to refer to drug trafficking cells embedded within the Venezuelan military.
On November 8, 2021, 500 members of Venezuela’s security forces were deployed to the communities of San Juan de Unare and San Juan de las Galdonas, in Sucre, to obliterate the group.
Eighteen members of the group were killed in the attack, including Malony. Although the group retreated, they published two videos in December of that year, claiming that they maintained a presence in Sucre , as well as in their historic stronghold of Guárico.
But the hunt for Tren del Llano did not stop there. In April 2022, after a video was published showing gang members extorting farmers Zaraza, Guárico, the regime sent in 800 men backed up by tanks. Security forces arrested and killed several members of the group in the operation.
The gang’s fate was worsened in May when their new leader, José Pirela Armas, alias “Carlos Pirela,” was allegedly murdered by his own men, according to Venezuela’s criminal investigations police (Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas Penales y Criminalísticas – CICPC).
The Venezuelan regime’s operations against Tren del Llano, on top of its internal divisions, may spell the end for the group.
Tren del Llano was one of the first large gangs to emerge in Venezuela. From having a presence in Guárico since at least 2008, it rapidly expanded into the neighboring states of Miranda and Aragua.
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