Trinidad and Tobago marked a turning point when it became the first country in the Caribbean to officially designate Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua (TdA) as a terrorist organization. This historic decision adopted in July 2025 and grounded in the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act and U.N. Security Council resolutions, is widely seen as a necessary declaration of war against a destabilizing regional threat.
The resolution, handed down by the High Court and announced by the Attorney General’s Office, ordered the immediate freezing of all known TdA assets, a measure that remains in effect. Providing logistical or financial support to the group is now considered a terrorist offense.
“We are committed to protecting national security and upholding the rule of law,” The Attorney General’s Office said in a statement, calling the measure a “significant milestone” in the fight against transnational organized crime.
“The designation of the TdA as a terrorist group reflects the reality of its expansion in the Caribbean. But above all, it has a symbolic component of firmness in the face of an already present threat,” Douglas Farah, an expert on transnational organized crime and president of IBI Consultants, told Diálogo.
A regional shift in the making
Trinidad and Tobago’s measure is not an isolated event, but part of a growing hemispheric consensus on the threat of Venezuelan-linked transnational crime.
During the 55th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), a month prior to Trinidad and Tobago’s resolution, countries such as Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, El Salvador, Paraguay, and the United States proposed a joint declaration to designate the TdA as a terrorist organization. Though the initiative is still under debate; it reflects a greater regional awareness of the problem’s magnitude and the urgency of a coordinated response.
“The action taken by some states is a step forward, but it’s not enough,” Panamanian internationalist Euclides Tapia told Diálogo. In his opinion, all countries, including those in the Eastern Caribbean, which are especially vulnerable due to the impact of Venezuelan migration, must act urgently to prevent the group from further consolidating its presence in the region.
“This is no longer just about local gangs, but complex criminal networks that operate like true multinational crime organizations,” Tapia added.
The Venezuelan exodus as a vehicle for infiltration
Originating in Venezuela’s Tocorón prison, the TdA has evolved from a prison gang into a transnational criminal network with a presence in several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its expansion has been driven by the institutional collapse in Venezuela and the mass exodus of migrants, which has served as a vehicle for infiltration, especially into Trinidad and Tobago, located just 11 kilometers off the Venezuelan coast.
The TdA’s threat is directly connected to the highest levels of the Venezuelan regime. Leading international security organizations and multiple regional governments contend that the TdA is a terrorist organization that receives material support from the Cartel of the Suns, the criminal structure led by Nicolás Maduro.
“Where migrants arrive, so does TdA. It’s no coincidence; it’s part of their strategy,” Tapia said.
Nongovernmental organization Transparencia Venezuela has reported activity by the group in the center and east of the country since 2017, where it collaborates with local gangs involved in drug, arms, and human trafficking. The group has even used women and children as human shields to circumvent security checks and strengthen its trafficking networks.
A state under siege
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has bluntly described the situation, stating that her country has lived under the shadow of violence and organized crime for decades. “Trinidad and Tobago has been helplessly drowning in blood and violence for the last 20 years. Due to drug, human, and firearms trafficking, Caribbean countries, and particularly Trinidad and Tobago, have experienced massive spikes in transnational crime,” she said in an August 23, statement.
In 2024, the country recorded a homicide rate of 42 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the hemisphere. In the first seven months alone, there were 350 murders, most of them linked to disputes between gangs over territorial control, Trinidad and Tobago Newsday reported.
Despite two states of emergency declared in 2025, the advances of networks such as the TdA demonstrate a strategic challenge for the Caribbean nation. “Small island states like ours simply do not have the financial and military resources to take on the drug cartels,” Persad-Bissessar said in her August 23 statement.
The Trinidadian case is not unique. In the last two years, countries such as Suriname, Barbados, and the Turks and Caicos Islands have experienced a worrying increase in homicide rates, in some cases doubling previous levels, according to data from the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS).
The threat is not limited to the TdA. Caribbean governments have also strengthened their security warnings against the Cartel of the Suns, associated with sectors of the Venezuelan military and leadership. Multiple governments in the hemisphere, including the Dominican Republic, have officially designated the Cartel of the Suns as a terrorist organization. In Guyana, authorities have strengthened international cooperation after detecting the presence of the Cartel of the Suns, underscoring the deep infiltration of Maduro-linked criminal structures across the region.
“The Caribbean has become a hotbed of unprecedented violence,” Tapia said. As forced migration intensifies, many islands are being drawn into the sphere of organized crime routes, making them vulnerable to criminal penetration. “Although some countries have not yet felt the full impact of the Venezuelan exodus, transnational crime is already undermining state structures in the region,” he added.
An urgent regional challenge
Porous borders and limited institutional capacity hamper efforts to contain the advance of organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. This situation raises the urgent need for a coordinated and sustained regional strategy.
“Transnational crime does not respect borders. Confronting it requires a common response,” said Farah, pointing out that recognizing the magnitude of the problem is only the first step. “Statements are not enough. Real cooperation is needed between countries, not only in the region, but throughout the international community. It is essential to have shared resources and effective operational mechanisms to stop these organizations,” he said.
Farah stressed that what is at stake is not only citizen security, but also the stability of democratic institutions. He warned that the presence of networks such as the TdA is destabilizing governments, weakening governance, and putting democracy in the region at risk.
“We are facing a serious threat to regional institutions that cannot be ignored,” he concluded.
