Chega collected the same number of seats as the Socialists — 58 — and could yet claim second place when four remaining seats decided by voters abroad are attributed in coming days.
Members of the military used heavy equipment to destroy some of the amenities the gang had built. But the massive operation in Tocorón came too late to prevent the gang from crossing Venezuela’s borders.Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Chile — all with large populations of Venezuelan migrants — have accused the group of being behind violent crimes.
The gang’s initial work abroad focused on exploiting Venezuelan migrants through loan sharking, human trafficking and the smuggling of contraband goods to and from Venezuela. But as migrants settled in their host countries, Tren de Aragua members joined or clashed with local criminal organizations engaged in drug trafficking, extortion of local businesses and murders for hire.The gang became known in Colombia in 2022 after authorities found at least at least 19 bodies in the capital, some dismembered, and linked Guerrero associates to the killings. And in Chile last year, authorities blamed the gang for the killing of a Venezuelan officer who had fled there after taking part in a failed plot to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Earlier this month, the U.S. government announced it will extradite three Tren de Aragua members to Chile for their involvement in the case.
The Tren de Aragua has been on the radar of U.S. authorities for years. The administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden sanctioned the gang in July 2024, and offered $12 million in rewards for the arrest of three of its leaders, including Guerrero.But it wasn’t until Trump campaigned for a second White House term that the Tren de Aragua became widely known in the U.S., as he and his allies turned the gang into the face of the alleged threat posed by immigrants living in the country illegally.
Trump has taken the extraordinary steps to designate the group a “foreign terrorist organization,” and earlier this month, an invading force, by invoking an 18th-century wartime law that allows the U.S. to deport noncitizens without any legal recourse, including rights to appear before an immigration or federal court judge.
Under those decisions, the Trump administration has sent Venezuelan immigrants to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. It has alleged that the transferred individuals were Tren de Aragua members, though it has not provided any evidence to back up that claim.She noted that she has lost some of her events, saying that disproved arguments that she can’t be beat.
Hernandez is expected to perform well, particularly in the triple jump, in which she has a personal best of over 41 feet (12.5 meters). That is more than 3 feet (1 meter) short of a national record set in 2019. She’s the fifth seed in the long jump but ranked much lower in the high jump.California’s state championship stands out from that of other states because of the number of competitors athletes are up against to qualify.
More than 57,000 high schoolers participated in outdoor track and field in California during the 2023-2024 school year, according to a survey by the National Federation of State High School Associations. California had the second-largest number of high school outdoor track-and-field athletes, only behind Texas.Of the 12 high school athletes who have set national records in the girls triple jump between 1984 and 2019, eight have been from California, according to the national sports governing body.