US Southern Command killed Tren de Aragua chief Nino Guerrero in a joint airstrike with Venezuelan forces, eliminating the decade-long leader of a transnational gang with active operations inside the United States.

A U.S. military strike on a Venezuelan drug vessel marks a dangerous escalation in an unfolding regional crisis, as Venezuela, backed by Russia and China, emerges as a narco-authoritarian threat to U.S. security.