PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. — Since Friday the Prairie du Chien police have been holding a man they suspect is affiliated with violent transnational criminal organization known as Tren de Aragua. Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, 26, a Venezuelan, was arrested after a sexually violent attack on one woman, police said. A juvenile female was also injured. Police Chief Kyle Teynor said that Zarate also had warrants from Madison, 100 miles away, for strangulation, suffocation, false imprisonment, battery, and disorderly conduct. In Prairie du Chien, he was held for:
> Sexual assault.
> Disorderly conduct.
> Domestic battery.
> Strangulation/suffocation.
> Physical abuse to a child.
Prairie du Chien olice responded Friday to the 300 block of East Wells Street for report of a a physical disturbance.That led to the arrest. Meanwhile, said Teynor, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has placed a detention order on Zarate. Both victims, the chief said, knew Zarate.
Zarate. Unknown was how and where that Zarate, a Venezuelan, gained access to the United States. Also unknown: How long he had been in Wisconsin.
Verbatim
Kyle Teynor, police chief: “Zarate was brought to Prairie du Chien from the Dane County area. The victims in this case knew him. This was not a random event. This incident highlights the need to be aware of the dangers that affiliates of these transnational criminal organizations pose to our communities.”
Tren de Aragua profile
The gang originated in a prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua Turmoil, government corruption and anarchy facilitated the gang’s growth. An example of early corruption: The Venezuelan government handed control of some prisons over to crime bosses. One prisons soon a had a zoo, swimming pool, playground, restaurant, and nightclub within the prison. Tren de Aragua, as the gang called itself, took over a nearby neighborhood and established strict social control. The gang subsumed rival criminal gangs, often through violence, and expanded its influence to other states in Venezuela through alliances with smaller gangs. Tren de Aragua portfolio grew to include extortion, kidnapping, human trafficking for sexual exploitation, migrant smuggling, illegal mining, retail drug trafficking, and cybercrime. Tren de became transnational around 2018 when it took over clandestine border crossings into Colombia to smuggle drugs, contraband, and migrants. Tren de Aragua similarly set up branches in Peru and Chile. Concern about expansion into North America prompted the U.S. Treasury Department to list Tren de Aragua a transnational criminal organization in July 2024. In addition the U.S. State Department has offered $12 million in rewards for information leading to the arrests of three of the gang’s Venezuela leadership.