The Oral Criminal Court of the city of Iquique, Chile, sentenced 12 leaders of the transnational criminal organization El Tren de Aragua (TdA) on July 14 to sentences totaling 300 years in prison, including five life sentences.
In a unanimous ruling, the convicted were sentenced for the crimes of illicit association, migrant smuggling, human trafficking for sexual exploitation, conditional threats, and aggravated kidnapping committed between 2021 and 2022 in Iquique.
“This organization is a cell of the Venezuelan gang ‘TREN DE ARAGUA’ and operated by taking control of a specific geographic area,” says a statement from the Iquique Court, and in that location “they collected what they called ‘vacuna,’ that is, a sum of money they demanded from those who carried out legal or illegal acts in that territory.”
Carlos González Vaca, alias “Estrella,” was considered the leader of the criminal organization in Chile and was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crimes of kidnapping with mutilation and kidnapping with homicide committed in April and March 2022, in Iquique and the commune of Alto Hospicio.
“González Vaca exercised leadership control; the other members reported to him on their activities, he gave instructions to his subordinates, and received reports on the organization’s crimes nationwide,” the same statement states.
Hernán David Landaeta Garlotti, alias “Satanás,” was the criminal gang’s main hitman and was also sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping with homicide, committed in March 2022 in Iquique and Alto Hospicio, among other crimes.
Zeus Velásquez Aquino and Daniel Elías Azuaje were sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping with mutilation, committed in April 2021.
The court sentenced Juan Carlos Blanco to life imprisonment for kidnapping with homicide and three years for the crime of conditional threats.
The other convicts received sentences ranging from two to 22 years in prison. The total sentences add up to more than 300 years in prison, according to a post on social media by the Tarapacá prosecutor’s office.
The gang committed crimes such as migrant smuggling, human trafficking, aggravated kidnappings, and threats, “altering public order and security in the region,” the court added in a statement.
The investigation was led by the Criminal Analysis and Investigative Focus Unit of the Tarapacá Prosecutor’s Office, in conjunction with the Investigative Police, which presented more than 1000 pieces of evidence, 224 witnesses, and 38 expert witnesses in a three-month trial.
“As the Public Prosecutor’s Office, we are satisfied with the sentence handed down,” said Tarapacá Regional Prosecutor Trinidad Steinert on July 15. “The sentences handed down, in my opinion, are exemplary (…) and therefore the Public Prosecutor’s Office believes the work was carried out efficiently and effectively.”
The TdA gang emerged in 2013 within the prison system of the state of Aragua, Venezuela, and grew stronger through alliances with small local gangs in key areas of the country during long periods of impunity for the Venezuelan government, led by Nicolás Maduro.
In 2018, the TdA gang expanded rapidly in South America, taking advantage of the mass migration of Venezuelans fleeing the situation in their country, controlling irregular migration routes primarily to Colombia, Peru, and Brazil.
With the creation of different cells and forming associations with local criminal groups, the TdA spread throughout the continent, expanding its activities to 20 different crimes.
On Jan. 20, after being inaugurated as president for a second term, U.S. President Donald Trump designated the Tren de Aragua criminal organization as a foreign terrorist organization through an executive order, deeming it a threat to the security of Americans.
From The Epoch Times