A former Venezuelan military official has challenged a recent report by the US Intelligence Reporting Agency about the massive Tren de Aragua gangs that exist all over the country.
Jose Arocha, a former lieutenant colonel for the Venezuelan army, told Fox News Digital that the recent Inter Community Report, which denied Tren de Aragua, was linked to Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Also known simply as TDA, Tren de Aragua is a violent Venezuelan gang that has terrorized American cities over the past few years. The group is linked to high-profile murders, including the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, and seizures throughout an apartment in Aurora, Colorado.
President Donald Trump, one of his first moves to return to his elliptical office, directed the State Department to designate the TDA as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
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Jose Arocha, former lieutenant colonel of the Venezuelan army (El Salvador Press Presidency Office/Anadolu Getty Images and Center for a Secure Free Society)
Through Fox News Digital and Zoom, Arocha, a national security expert at the Center for Secure Freedom and Society, said he agreed to the Trump administration's move against Tren de Aragua.
“The Maduro administration doesn't need to send troops to America. They'll send criminals instead,” he said. “TDA is a plug-and-play rebellion, assembled into prisons and deployed overseas.”
However, Arocha's statement contrasted with a new public memo released last month by the US intelligence reporting agency, denying a strong connection between the Maduro government in Caracas and the gang.
“While Venezuela's tolerant environment could lead to TDA operation, the Maduro administration probably has no policy of working with the TDA and has not directed the TDA movement and operation of the US,” the report said.
The Intelligence Reports Community states that it is based on conclusions about the actions of Venezuela law enforcement agencies, indicating that the administration treats TDA as a threat. The uneasy combination of cooperation and conflict, rather than top-down instructions, characterizes the regime's relationship with other armed groups.
Meanwhile, Arocha said, “The missing point here is that the intelligence report is too narrow for TDA.”
“It's about crime and migration, but they lack the war aspect,” he said. “They miss the fact that the US is the enemy and for years to be the enemy for the Maduro administration.”
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President Nicolas Maduro (Yesvalgas/Getty Images)
“TDA is not a gang,” he continued. “It's the enabler division of the Venezuelan administration in hybrid strategy, asymmetric war tours. That's the point that's missing. That's the point that explains how local gangs are believed in more than 10 countries, including the US.
The report points to law enforcement actions taken by the Maduro government against the TDA, but Arocha explained that in reality, Venezuelan prisons, including the “Tokoron” prison where gangs began, are similar to resort hotels.
“Tokoron, (this) said they were the epicenter of Venezuela's crime, it was not a prison, it was an organized crime palace. It had full equipment, a zoo, a nightclub, and even a pool for prisoners,” he said.
Arocha also raided that the Venezuelan government, which took place in Tocolon in 2023, was “choreographed,” assaulting the main TDA leadership could escape through pre-built tunnels.
“The administration acquired a criminal optics, but TDA mobility remained the same,” Arocha told Fox News Digital.
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This image shows two Tren de Aragua gang members caught at the southern border. (US Border Patrol)
The Intel report acknowledged that the fleeing TDA members “maybe they are being supported by Venezuelan military and political leaders.” But for Arocha, the connection goes straight up.
He pointed out the inviting and murder of Chilean Venezuela's political opposition Ronald Ojeda. According to Reuters, the Chilean government is being investigated as Operation Tren de Aragua sponsored by the Maduro government.
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Chilean Attorney General Angel Valencia said in March that Ojeda's murder “has no character of a normal crime,” and that “we can conclude that all the evidence we have in this investigation is related to Tren de Lagua, which is derived from an order of politically motivated.
The outlet also reported that the Venezuelan government denied the charges as baseless.
Arocha also pointed to former Vice President Maduro Tarek El Aisami, who claims to link Hamas to Hezbollah as evidence that the Venezuelan government is embedded in America's worst enemy.
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In this handout photo provided by the Salvador government, the guard escorts a prisoner allegedly linked to CECOT's criminal organization in Tecolca, El Salvador, on March 16, 2025. (The Salvador government via Getty Images)
El Aisami was arrested on corruption charges and is currently in prison.
“He has strong influence on Iran, China and Russia too. Now he is in prison, meaning he lives in the prison palace,” Arocha said with a smile.
“The Venezuelan regime is the current proxy for Russia, China, Iran, and especially China,” he continued. “They use Venezuela in Latin America (not faced directly in particular with the US, but indirectly using criminals, using all the tools they have, using disinformation.”
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In response, Arocha urged the Trump administration to continue taking a government-wide approach in the fight against TDA. He urged the administration to “increase our scope” by reaching out to Latin American countries with experience with TDAs, including the Chilean government.
“They have knowledge of TDA now. We have to understand what they've learned, and we have to put together all the pieces to have a big picture rather than a local,” he said. “And we are shortage and we are sure we will notice that the main link is in Caracas.”
Anders Hagstrom from Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
