Colombian authorities, with assistance from the United States, have captured a senior figure linked to the Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua, signaling an intensification of cooperation between the two countries under Colombia’s new administration. Luis Saul Perez Nieto, also known by the aliases “Paez” and “Nairobi,” was apprehended on Thursday during a joint operation involving Colombian police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), according to the U.S. Southern Command.

Perez Nieto is suspected of coordinating the trafficking of weapons and narcotics across multiple countries, playing a significant role in expanding Tren de Aragua’s influence beyond Venezuela and into Peru. Originally a prison gang from Venezuela’s Tocorón penitentiary, the group has evolved into a transnational criminal syndicate involved in drug and arms trafficking. Perez Nieto reportedly escaped from Tocorón in 2023 alongside the gang’s leader, Hector “Nino Guerrero” Flores, who was killed in a U.S. military strike earlier this year in a rare collaboration with Venezuelan authorities.

The capture of Perez Nieto comes shortly after Colombia’s new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, took office this month. An admirer of former U.S. President Donald Trump, de la Espriella has prioritized a hardline approach toward drug cartels and criminal organizations, openly embracing closer military cooperation with Washington. His government has designated Medellin as the center of a new regional anti-cartel alliance supported by U.S. forces—a policy shift from his progressive predecessor.

“Narco-terrorists have no safe haven in our hemisphere,” the U.S. Southern Command said in a statement released Friday. It emphasized the partnership’s goal of dismantling criminal networks and protecting national and regional security. DEA Administrator Terry Cole praised the arrest, commending the joint efforts of Colombian authorities.

While the U.S. has requested Perez Nieto’s arrest and extradition related to charges including terrorism, money laundering, drug trafficking, and criminal conspiracy, details of the case have not been publicly disclosed by American officials. The DEA declined to comment on specific charges or its role in the operation.

The arrest coincides with heightened regional security coordination. Earlier this week, U.S. Southern Command chief General Francis Donovan met with Colombian defense officials in Tumaco, a key port city near the volatile Colombian-Ecuadorian border. The talks included representatives from Ecuador and focused on combating drug trafficking, illegal mining, and human trafficking. Donovan emphasized a trilateral strategy to target cartel leadership, disrupt logistics networks, and deny criminal groups safe havens across the region.