Larry Amaury Álvarez Núñez, known by the alias “Larry Changa,” is slated to stand trial in Chile on charges of criminal association and kidnapping following Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s approval of his extradition. A conviction would mark the potential end of the criminal career of one of the three founding members of Tren de Aragua, Venezuela’s most notorious criminal export.
Born in Maracay, Aragua state, in May 1977, Álvarez began his criminal trajectory in the late 1990s stealing vehicles and auto parts across Aragua and neighboring Carabobo. A 2002 arrest for car theft was followed by convictions for homicide and aggravated robbery, resulting in his incarceration at Tocorón prison.
Inside Tocorón, Álvarez allied with fellow inmates Héctor “Niño Guerrero” Guerrero and Yohan “Johan Petrica” Romero. The trio established command of Tren de Aragua from within the facility, transforming the prison into a gang-run fiefdom complete with a zoo and nightclub, while expanding the organization’s operations beyond the walls into a vast enterprise spanning extortion, human trafficking, and smuggling.
Álvarez escaped Tocorón in 2015 and disappeared until resurfacing in Chile in 2018, where he spent several years establishing the gang’s first Chilean cell. Prosecutors allege he led a structure—including a faction known as the “Piratas de Aragua”—responsible for extortion, kidnapping, and murder, laundering the proceeds through a network of front businesses.
Changa fled Chile in 2022. Despite an Interpol red notice active across 196 countries, he evaded capture until Colombian police arrested him while he was driving a luxury vehicle in Circasia, a municipality in the coffee-growing department of Quindío.
