Tren de Aragua Expands Operations in Mexico City, Allied with Local Gangs
Mexico City, August 18 – The Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua has significantly expanded its operations in Mexico City, now incorporating motorcycle theft into its illicit activities. These stolen motorcycles are being used by the group’s cells for drug distribution, transporting hitmen, and committing robberies, marking an expansion that already includes drug dealing, human trafficking, and extortion across at least 11 states in Mexico.
A ministerial source confirmed to Milenio that testimonies collected in investigation files directly point to this organization. “They are increasingly involved in motorcycle theft; the arrested individuals lead us to this organization,” the consulted source stated.
Motorcycles: A Dual Purpose in Criminal Operations
According to investigations, motorcycles serve a dual function within the criminal structure. The organization either resells them or dismantles them for parts. Crucially, they are also designated for drug distribution, the transportation of members, and facilitating the escape of hitmen through Mexico City’s traffic.
Under this system, the Venezuelan group joins local organizations that have operated with such vehicles for years, including Unión Tepito and Anti Unión. The key difference is that Tren de Aragua not only uses them as an operational tool but actively steals them to supply its own inventory.
The scale of the problem is reflected in the figures from the ‘Refuerzo CdMx’ operation: last July, elements of the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar) inspected 524 motorcycles and impounded 50. This means that practically one out of every ten inspected motorcycles had irregularities significant enough to be removed from circulation.
The disparity with other vehicles is striking. During the same period, marines inspected only 31 cars, indicating that for every car reviewed, 17 motorcycles were subjected to control.
Alliances with Unión Tepito and Control of Drug Dealing in Cuauhtémoc
Drug dealing is not a new activity for Tren de Aragua in the capital. Early investigations into their presence in Mexico City already placed them in this activity, along with human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and extortion.
The key to their consolidation was an alliance with Unión Tepito. According to journalist Héctor de Mauléon, the leaders of this organization hired members of the Venezuelan group to fight their rival, Anti Unión, and in return, opened the doors of the Cuauhtémoc borough to them.
On January 16, 2026, the federal Secretary of Security, Omar García Harfuch, confirmed in a press conference that Tren de Aragua maintains links with local groups in that demarcation. “In Mexico City, they have links with local groups in Cuauhtémoc, Unión Tepito, etc.,” the official declared.
That same month, six alleged members of the organization were arrested in the Gustavo A. Madero borough for extortion, human trafficking, and drug trafficking. Among those captured was Lesli Valeri “N,” identified as being in charge of collecting profits from the sexual exploitation market and as a negotiator with Unión Tepito; a notebook with records of her extortions was found among her belongings.
Federal investigations determined that the Venezuelan group did not build a large independent structure in Mexico. Instead, it forged relationships with organizations that already control territories and illicit markets, and from there expanded its criminal portfolio.
According to intelligence reports cited by De Mauléon, the original alliance fractured: Tren de Aragua got out of the control of Unión Tepito leaders, and now the three groups – Unión, Anti Unión, and the Venezuelan gang – are disputing drug dealing and human trafficking in areas such as Santa María la Ribera, Plaza Garibaldi, Buenavista, and Peralvillo.
The Femicides of Topilejo and Pressure on Capital Cells
The violence associated with Tren de Aragua left a concrete mark on July 30, 2024, when two young Venezuelan women were shot dead in San Miguel Topilejo, in the Tlalpan borough. Their bodies were abandoned in a remote area in the south of the capital.
The Attorney General’s Office of Mexico City opened an investigation that led to alleged members of the organization. In December 2024, Euclides Manuel Arias Suárez, alias “Morgan,” was arrested as an alleged leader of a cell of the group and identified as the probable material author of the double crime; in May 2025, he was linked to the process.
García Harfuch ruled out a significant expansion of the organization in the country in January 2026, attributing the increase in news to the rise in arrests. “We have not detected a greater expansion; rather, we have increased the arrests of these groups,” the secretary affirmed.
The Attorney General’s Office (FGR), however, is targeting 14 leaders, operators, and hitmen of Tren de Aragua, against whom it is preparing arrest warrants, according to a federal report consulted by Milenio. Most of those arrested so far have been low-profile operators: drug dealers, extortionists, and material hitmen, without any high-ranking leader being captured.
In July 2025, authorities arrested 54 alleged members of criminal organizations operating in the Cuauhtémoc borough, in an offensive that covered structures present in Tepito and other central areas. Operations by the Mexico City Prosecutor’s Office and the SSPC against Tren de Aragua have intensified since then, although the organization maintains its adaptability thanks to its cell-based structure.
Source: https://www.infobae.com/mexico/2026/08/18/asi-opera-el-tren-de-aragua-junto-a-narcomenudistas-en-cdmx-alianzas-metodos-y-zonas-de-influencia/
