Report Reveals Tren de Aragua Presence in 10 Mexican States as Authorities Step Up Efforts to Curb Gang's Expansion

Over the past year, Mexican intelligence agencies have been closely monitoring the growing presence of the Venezuelan-born gang Tren de Aragua. Authorities say the group has pushed the country into a critical phase of "surveillance, detection, and dismantling of its cells" before they can fully establish themselves, with operations being tracked closely in Mexico City.

According to Milenio, investigative agents report that Tren de Aragua operates in nine Mexican states and maintains a presence in at least three boroughs of the capital.

Officials confirmed the gang's activity in Hidalgo, Tamaulipas, Baja California, Chiapas, the State of Mexico, Puebla, Chihuahua, and Quintana Roo. Intelligence reports also indicate the group is establishing small networks in tourist and urban areas to operate under the radar and that their criminal activities include street-level drug trafficking, human trafficking for sexual exploitation, and torture.

Unlike traditional Mexican cartels, Tren de Aragua operates in small, highly mobile cells that can blend into migrant flows and rapidly diversify their operations, making them difficult to track or dismantle, experts said.

Milenio reports that it was only last year that Mexican authorities became aware of Tren de Aragua's operations in the country, following clashes between Tren de Aragua members and other gangs in Mexico City.

In October of this year, authorities arrested several Venezuelan nationals, including Nelson Arturo "N," identified as the gang's leader and main operator in Mexico. At the time of his arrest, he was accused of murdering Stephanie and Susej, two young Venezuelan women forced into sexual exploitation in the Tlalpan borough of Mexico City, where their bodies were later found burned.

In response, multiple Mexican agencies, including the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), the Navy, the National Guard, the Attorney General's Office, and the National Intelligence Center (CNI), developed an intervention model combining field intelligence, financial analysis, and international cooperation to detect additional Tren de Aragua cells in Mexico.

The effort focuses particularly on Colombia, Peru, Chile, the United States, and Panama, where the gang maintains an active presence, according to sources cited by Milenio.

Authorities say early detection is key to preventing the gang from gaining a foothold in Mexico, as happened in Chile and Peru, where Tren de Aragua operated undetected for years before developing a stronger criminal structure.

Federal efforts aim to prevent money laundering, the acquisition of assets under false identities, and the creation of human trafficking networks, as well as other crimes such as arms trafficking.

Milenio notes that Mexican intelligence agencies maintain regular exchanges with security authorities in Colombia, the United States, Peru, Chile, and Panama, sharing information on gang members' behavior, including membership lists, tattoos, recruitment methods, and forged documents.

This intelligence-sharing allows authorities to issue alerts at entry points, highways, migration stations, and airports, officials said.

According to InSight Crime, Tren de Aragua began expanding internationally around 2018, when the gang tried to establish a presence along the border between Venezuela and Colombia, specifically between the Venezuelan state of Táchira and the Colombian department of Norte de Santander.

The gang has since established permanent cells in Colombia, Peru, and Chile, and there have also been reports of its activities in Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and the United States.