The authorities of USA They announced this Friday the extradition from Colombia of the Venezuelan citizen José Enrique Martínez Flowers, akaChuqui‘, identified as one of the alleged leaders of the criminal organization Aragua Trainto answer before the US Justice for charges related to drug trafficking and terrorism.
This was notified by the United States Embassy in Colombia in a statement, in which it highlighted that Martínez is the “first member of the Aragua Train extradited” to the country from Colombian soil, within the framework of an operation promoted by the US Department of Homeland Security.
The 24-year-old defendant will appear before a federal court in Houston after being detained by Colombian authorities on March 31 in compliance with a provisional arrest warrant requested by Washington.
According to the United States Department of Justice, aka ‘Chuqui‘ is accused of “providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization”, as well as participating in an international cocaine distribution network destined for the US market.
The Prosecutor’s Office has pointed out that the suspect would be part of the “inner circle” of the Aragua Train management in Bogotá and that he would have supervised activities linked to drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution and murders in Colombia.
Likewise, the US authorities have assured that the profits obtained through the trafficking of at least five kilograms of cocaine They were used to “further the criminal objectives” of the organization.
The State Department included the Aragua Train on its list of foreign terrorist organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists in February 2025. In this context, Washington has stressed that the current operation is part of an expanded strategy to combat transnational criminal structures in the region.
The accusation also affects three other alleged leaders of the group, identified as Yohan José Romero, alias ‘Johan Petrica’; Juan Gabriel Rivas Núñez, alias ‘Juancho’; and Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano, alias ‘El Viejo’, who remain at large.
The US authorities have recalled that an indictment “constitutes only an allegation” and that all defendants “are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.”
