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BOGOTA, Colombia — <\/span>Colombian security forces captured a suspected senior leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua<\/a>, the U.S. Southern Command announced on Friday, hailing the arrest as a result of stronger military cooperation between the historically close allies.<\/p>\n The capture on Thursday of Luis Sa\u00fal P\u00e9rez Nieto, who Colombian authorities described as having coordinated the gang’s weapons and drug-trafficking networks across the region, offers an early sign of how rapidly the two countries have intensified their joint efforts against organized crime under Colombia’s new conservative president, Abelardo de la Espriella<\/a>.<\/p>\n An admirer<\/a> of U.S. President Donald Trump, de la Espriella came to power<\/a> earlier this month promising to crush his country\u2019s powerful drug traffickers with help from Washington. His government has named Medell\u00edn, Colombia\u2019s second-largest city, as the hub of Trump\u2019s new regional anti-cartel alliance<\/a> and welcomed joint operations with the U.S. military on Colombian soil in a sharp break from his progressive predecessor.<\/p>\n \u201cNarco-terrorists have no safe haven in our hemisphere,\u201d the U.S. Southern Command said in its statement on Friday announcing the capture of P\u00e9rez Nieto. “We stand united with our partners to dismantle these criminal networks and protect our homeland.\u201d <\/p>\n P\u00e9rez Nieto, known by the aliases \u201cP\u00e1ez\u201d and \u201cNairobi,\u201d was captured in an operation that also involved the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Colombian police said, without elaborating. <\/p>\n Colombian police accused P\u00e9rez Nieto of leading the expansion of Tren de Aragua in Peru while coordinating drug and arms trafficking across the continent, helping transform what began as a prison gang operating from Venezuela\u2019s Tocor\u00f3n penitentiary<\/a> into a transnational criminal syndicate.<\/p>\n In 2023, P\u00e9rez Nieto escaped from that prison along with his close confidant, the gang\u2019s leader, H\u00e9ctor \u201cNi\u00f1o Guerrero\u201d Guerrero Flores, Colombian police added. Guerrero Flores was killed in a U.S. military strike<\/a> in a rare collaboration with Venezuela earlier this year. <\/p>\n The Trump administration last year designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization<\/a>, part of its effort to treat Latin American cartels as national security threats<\/a> rather than conventional criminal groups. However, Trump has at times overstated the gang’s connections<\/a> in an effort to justify deporting Venezuelans, The Associated Press previously reported.<\/p>\n \u201cCongratulations to President Abelardo de la Espriella and the Colombian National Police on the capture of Luis P\u00e1ez Nieto, a senior Tren de Aragua leader,\u201d DEA Administrator Terry Cole said. <\/p>\n Colombian and Peruvian authorities said the U.S. had requested P\u00e9rez Nieto\u2019s arrest and extradition on charges of terrorism, money laundering, drug trafficking and criminal conspiracy. The Trump administration has not publicly detailed the case against him. The DEA did not respond to questions about the charges against P\u00e9rez Nieto in the U.S. or its role in the operation. <\/p>\n Earlier this week, U.S. Southern Command chief Gen. Francis Donovan met Colombia\u2019s defense minister and military leaders in the port city of Tumaco before traveling to Ecuador for regional security talks focused on the volatile border between the two countries, rife with drug smuggling, illegal mining and human trafficking. <\/p>\n During his visit, Donovan said that U.S., Ecuadorian and Colombian officials had agreed on a strategy to \u201chunt cartel leadership, shatter their logistics and permanently deny them safe haven.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe border between Colombia and Ecuador is a geographic chokepoint that violent cartels have long exploited,” he said. \u201cToday, we are changing the game.\u201d <\/p>\n Colombia and Ecuador are among the few regional governments that have agreed to allow joint operations with U.S. forces against criminal groups on their territory, part of the Trump administration’s efforts to extend<\/a> its lethal campaign against suspected drug smuggling boats<\/a> to land.<\/p>\n It comes as South American voters increasingly elect<\/a> Trump-aligned conservative leaders who have called for far-reaching security crackdowns.<\/a><\/p>\n Among them is Chilean President Jos\u00e9 Antonio Kast<\/a>, whose government has struggled to deliver<\/a> on its sweeping promises to curb crime and carry out and mass deportations.<\/p>\n But on Friday, Chilean officials celebrated a victory as they announced the arrival of two alleged Tren de Aragua leaders extradited from the U.S. and Colombia to face charges in Chile related to the abduction and killing<\/a> of former Venezuelan army Lt. Ronald Ojeda in 2024. The body of the Venezuelan dissident, who had sought political asylum in Chile, was found inside a suitcase buried beneath a cement slab in Santiago, the capital.<\/p>\n