A Venezuelan model, actress and DJ with a scandal-soaked love life has suddenly become a priority target for Donald Trump’s administration.
Jimena Romina Araya Navarro — better known as Rosita — was hit with U.S. Treasury sanctions on Wednesday after officials accused her of secretly financing foreign terror networks. According to OFAC, the social media star helped the ruthless leader of the Tren de Aragua cartel, Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores (“Niño Guerrero”), escape the infamous Tocorón prison back in 2012.
Rosita, who boasts millions of followers and a glamorous TV-DJ career across Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico, allegedly used her fame as a smokescreen to funnel cartel profits through businesses and nightlife venues.
One Bogota nightclub linked to her former bodyguard and manager, Eryk Manuel Landaeta Hernandez, was reportedly used for drug distribution and money laundering. Hernandez was arrested in October 2024 as pressure tightened around the cartel’s vast financial network.
With the latest sanctions, Rosita is now blocked from the U.S. financial system.
“Terrorist cartels will not operate freely across our borders under President Trump,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared. “We will use every tool to cut them off from the U.S. and global financial systems.”
Rosita’s romantic past continues to raise red flags.
She previously dated ex-con Luidig Ochoa in 2012, before he was later shot multiple times by a motorcycle thief.
Later, she was linked to Carlos Galíndez — a man allegedly tied to Venezuelan drug groups — who was found murdered and dismembered in 2016. Graphic images of his corpse were reportedly circulated by relatives of Nicolas Maduro’s wife to prevent retaliation against Rosita.
OFAC says Rosita and Hernandez provided material support to the TdA cartel. Their companies — Maiquetia VIP Bar Restaurantare and Global Import Solutions S.A. — have also been sanctioned.
Additional sanctions targeted Kenffersso Jhosue Sevilla Arteaga (“El Flipper”), arrested in Colombia in 2025 as Niño Guerrero’s top lieutenant, along with several other cartel operators and Guerrero’s half-brother.
U.S. intelligence alleges that Venezuelan officials helped TdA members illegally enter America to destabilize communities. Under the Biden administration, TdA members spread across at least 16 states, linked to crimes ranging from petty theft to drug trafficking and human smuggling.
In February, Washington formally designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization — placing them alongside MS-13.
The cartel has also expanded aggressively into Europe. Spanish police recently dismantled TdA’s first established cell in Madrid, where members were selling drugs like Tusi — the “pink cocaine” popular among partygoers. Thirteen suspects were arrested during coordinated raids.
Authorities believe Spain’s nearly one-million-strong Venezuelan population provided fertile ground for the gang to blend in, extort and recruit.
A senior police official told The Sun: “They can’t be treated like normal organized crime groups.”
Four of the cell’s alleged leaders are now jailed in Madrid and Barcelona.
In a separate operation, Spanish police arrested a Chilean fugitive accused of laundering $138 million through accounts linked to TdA front companies.
Tren de Aragua was born inside Tocorón prison in 2014 — a lawless inmate-run “city” featuring bars, restaurants, a zoo and even a golf course. Although authorities deployed more than 11,000 troops in a 2023 raid, Niño Guerrero escaped and remains at large.
Experts say the cartel now runs roughly 20 different businesses, from illegal mining to online gambling, and launders money through crypto and restaurant fronts, much like Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
Security analyst David Saucedo warned that arrests barely dent their revenue:
“They accept that a percentage will always be seized.”
