Americas — 2026-07-12

Trump Administration Works With Venezuelan Official Suspected of Ordering Political Killing in Chile via Tren de Aragua

BLUFWashington is unlikely to suspend engagement with Cabello within the next month, effectively subordinating accountability for a state-directed assassination to its Venezuela economic and security equities.

Chilean prosecutors are seeking extradition of Rafael Enrique Gámez Salas, 40, held in a Los Angeles federal jail, on charges he led the Tren de Aragua cell that kidnapped and killed exiled Venezuelan dissident Ronald Ojeda in Santiago in February 2024 123. According to ProPublica, Chilean investigators, citing testimony from captured suspects, have named Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello as the suspected organizer who paid Tren de Aragua leadership to carry out the killing 1. The outlet reports the Trump administration has worked directly with Cabello for six months since a January operation captured then-president Nicolás Maduro, including a meeting this week between Cabello and U.S. Southern Command chief Gen. Francis Donovan on earthquake relief 1. U.S. authorities had previously charged Cabello alongside Maduro in the same drug-trafficking indictment and offered a $25 million reward for him 1. Asked in May whether Washington still considers Cabello a narcoterrorist, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said U.S. policy "has not changed" 1.

Analysis
Sustained high-level US engagement with Cabello despite extradition proceedings against his alleged subordinate signals Washington subordinates accountability for the Ojeda killing to oil, mining, and regional-stability priorities. The administration is unlikely to publicly suspend or end direct dealings with Cabello within the next month absent new evidence forcing a break or a shift on the earthquake-relief cooperation track. This judgment carries low confidence, reflecting single-source reporting on the extradition testimony and no observable indicator that Rubio's May position has moved. Silence on Cabello's alleged role, even as Chilean prosecutors prepare a 20-defendant trial, lets negotiations over Venezuela's economy and security posture proceed unimpeded.

3 sources