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María Corina Machado celebrated this Saturday the beginning of the dismantling of armed groups and criminal organizations in Venezuela, including the Tren de Aragua, and thanked President Donald Trump for the progress made in the last six months in her message posted on X titled "Regarding the events in the mining area of Guayana."
The message arrives a day after Trump announced the death of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias "Niño Guerrero," the top leader of the Tren de Aragua, in aU.S. Southern Command attack coordinated with the Venezuelan government.
Machado identified January 3, 2026 as the turning point: "On January 3, a new stage began in our long march towards the Freedom of Venezuela, thanks to the decisive action of President Trump and his administration."
That date marked the capture of Nicolás Maduro by the U.S. military and his transfer to New York to face federal charges of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.
Since then, according to the opposition leader, there have been "milestones that for years seemed unattainable": Maduro's departure to face justice and the "gradual dismantling of the alliances and structures with Russia, Iran, China, Cuba, and other factors that contributed to the plunder and destruction" of Venezuela.
Machado also highlighted the release of political prisoners—both civilians and military—as well as the expansion of civic space, noting that Venezuelans "can express themselves with greater freedom" and that the media and civil society "are beginning to reclaim the spaces that were taken from us for years."
Regarding the recent operations in the mining area of Bolívar state—where bombings and the deployment of FANB helicopters were reported in Las Claritas and kilometer 88 between June 9 and 11—the leader was unequivocal: "The human, social, ecological, and economic damage caused by these criminal groups— which emerged under the protection of chavismo and operate in complicity with the tyranny— to Venezuela is immeasurable."
The Aragua Train emerged in the Tocorón prison in Aragua state, from where "Niño Guerrero"—convicted in 2018 to 17 years in prison—led the expansion of the gang into Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States, and Europe, with the complicity of the Chavista regime.
The U.S. had designated the Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February 2025, and the State Department offered a reward of up to 5 million dollars for information on "Niño Guerrero" in July 2025.
On May 29, Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia signed a manifesto in Panama which establishes the dismantling of the repressive apparatus and illegal armed groups as a precondition for any political negotiation.
The opposition leader acknowledged that the journey is not over and called for civic action: "Every Venezuelan has an irreplaceable role in this process: to organize in their communities, defend the truth, expose the presence of criminal structures, and actively support the institutions that we are gradually recovering."
Machado concluded his message with a phrase that encapsulates the tone of his statement: "All of these achievements were unimaginable six months ago, and for that, we acknowledge and thank President Trump and his administration. With God's guidance, until the end."
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