Societal Collapse: The Livestreamed Murder of a Venezuelan Influencer

By Daniela Gonzalez

Dear readers:

There is a silent acceptance at a global scale of the Venezuelan regime’s collaboration with gangs and guerrillas in smuggling and violence.

In a harrowing incident that shocked social media users worldwide, Gabriel Jesús Sarmiento, a young Venezuelan influencer known for his bold denunciations of organized crime, was brutally murdered during a live TikTok broadcast. The killing, which unfolded in real time before his followers, underscores the extreme dangers faced by whistleblowers in societies where state institutions have failed to protect their citizens. Sarmiento’s assassination is not an isolated tragedy but a stark reflection of what happens when criminal organizations operate with impunity, and security forces are either unwilling or unable to intervene.

This article examines the circumstances of Sarmiento’s murder, the criminal groups he dared to challenge, and the broader implications for Venezuela. In this nation, the collapse of law and order allowed gangs like El Tren de Aragua to flourish. To thrive enough to expand to other countries, working as a de facto militia to undermine the stability of those nations.

We know for certain there is an alliance between these gangs and the Cartel de los Soles.

The Live-Streamed Assassination

In the early hours of Monday morning on Jun 23rd (2025), Gabriel Sarmiento was broadcasting live from his home in Maracay, Venezuela, when armed assailants stormed in and shot him multiple times.

Warning – DISTURBING CONTENT! The video, which quickly went viral, shows the moment the attackers entered his room, followed by screams from a woman off-camera pleading for help.

Sarmiento had gained a following for his fearless critiques of El Tren de Aragua and El Tren del Llano, two of Venezuela’s most notorious criminal syndicates. He also accused government officials of colluding with these gangs, naming specific police officers and even addressing El Niño Guerrero, the alleged leader of El Tren de Aragua, directly.

“We are full of corrupt officials who work with common criminals,” Sarmiento declared during his final livestream. “I want a better Aragua for everyone. Those responsible walk free while I’m forced into hiding—it’s absurd.”

His murder highlights the perils faced by activists and journalists in Venezuela, where speaking out against powerful criminal networks can be a death sentence.

The Rise of El Tren de Aragua

What began as a prison gang in the Tocorón Penitentiary in the early 2000s has since evolved into a transnational criminal empire. El Tren de Aragua (The Aragua Train) now operates across Latin America, engaging in drug trafficking, human smuggling, illegal mining, and extortion. Despite a high-profile raid on Tocorón in September 2023—where over 11,000 special forces agents were deployed—the group’s top leaders, including El Niño Guerrero, remain at large.

The Venezuelan illegal regime led by the former bus driver Nicolás Maduro has repeatedly denied the existence of such criminal organizations, dismissing them as foreign propaganda. However, the U.S. government has labeled El Tren de Aragua a terrorist threat, vowing to deport its members from American soil.

This is the same gang, incidentally, that has a presence in the United States and has violently taken over apartment buildings.

A Society in Freefall

Sarmiento’s murder is emblematic of Venezuela’s broader societal collapse, where:

1. The State Has Failed Its Citizens

– Security forces are either complicit with criminals or powerless to stop them.

– Corruption runs deep, with officials allegedly protecting gangs like El Tren de Aragua.

2. Journalists and Activists Are Silenced

– Those who expose crime risk assassination, as seen with Sarmiento.

– The lack of justice creates a climate of fear, discouraging others from speaking out.

3. Criminal Networks Fill the Power Vacuum

– With no effective law enforcement, gangs establish their own rules.

– Extortion, kidnappings, and violence become normalized.

4. The International Community Looks On

– Neighboring countries struggle to contain the spillover of Venezuelan crime.

– Yet, the M–duro regime continues to downplay the crisis, and keeps denying actively any involvement with the Cartel or their executive branch, TDA, despite all the evidence.

– Even worse, the ties with the Iranian Ayatollah’s theocracy, including the Uranium supplying to manufacture nuclear weapons, are still intact. One can only imagine how bad this situation can evolve in a country only 2,000 km away from the US shore.

A Call for Justice—But Will It Come?

Authorities have opened an investigation into Sarmiento’s murder, but few expect accountability in a system where criminals and officials are often intertwined. His death has reignited debates about the dangers of digital activism in authoritarian regimes and the urgent need for international pressure on Venezuela to address its security crisis.

For now, El Tren de Aragua continues to expand, exploiting weak institutions and desperate migrants. Sarmiento’s voice may have been silenced, but his story serves as a grim warning of what happens when a society abandons its citizens to lawlessness.

This paints a grim picture of the situation in Venezuela. The collapse of state institutions has allowed criminal groups like El Tren de Aragua to operate with almost total impunity. The live-streamed murder of Gabriel Sarmiento is an extreme example of the consequences of living in a society where the state has abdicated its responsibility to protect its citizens. This crime not only reflects endemic violence but also the complicity of corrupt officials and the absence of justice—factors that have turned Venezuela into a failed state.

In a setting of disaster, economic chaos, and social breakdown, citizens who dare to challenge gangs or expose criminals become easy targets. These savage acts, such as Sarmiento’s murder, are not unique to Venezuela; they could happen anywhere in the world where institutions collapse and law enforcement is either powerless or complicit. Empowered by the lack of legitimate authority, gangs seek to control resources and silence opposition, using violence as a tool of intimidation.

Venezuela’s story serves as a global warning: once the state loses its monopoly on force and justice, criminal groups will do whatever it takes to fill the power vacuum. In such scenarios, upstanding citizens who resist or expose the truth face mortal danger.

Gabriel Sarmiento’s assassination is more than a crime—it’s a symptom of a broken state. When governments fail to protect their people, criminals become the de facto rulers.

The prepping community needs to understand this: no place is safe once the gangs organize themselves.

This article was written to honor Gabriel Sarmiento’s courage while exposing the systemic failures that led to his death.

How Can We Avoid Being Targeted In a Similar Scenario?

Although this has been discussed previously on this website, let’s add some additional information. The information leaked about modern spying technology used to spy on Venezuelans is not new, dating as far back as 2014. However, this aberration seems to be increasing in the last few years,heading towards a South American version of North Korea. This introduces new variables in the protection equation.

1. Digital Opsec: Protect Your Virtual Footprint

Authoritarian regimes weaponize technology to track critics. To avoid surveillance, the group I belong to (including some of them working in public health sector) now:

1. Use encrypted apps (Signal, Telegram with secret chats) and avoid platforms tied to your identity, like Facebook profiles with real names.
2. Employ VPNs and Tor to mask IP addresses, especially when sharing sensitive content.
3. Avoid geotagging: Disable location metadata in photos/videos. Sarmiento’s live stream inadvertently revealed his whereabouts, and that ended by costing him his life.
4. Separate identities: Maintain “clean” devices/social media for mundane activities and “burner” accounts for activism.

2. Community Safety: Strength in Numbers

Isolated individuals are easy targets. Collective resilience deters repression:

1. Form trusted networks: Neighborhood watch groups, encrypted messaging circles, or civil society organizations can document abuses and alert members to threats.
2. Decentralized leadership: Avoid creating single points of failure (e.g., one prominent activist). Share responsibilities to dilute targeting. They have been charged with “treason” and put in jail, like the activist Rocio San Miguel.
3. International alliances: Partner secretly with global NGOs (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch) to ensure local abuses gain visibility beyond regime-controlled borders. Risky move, but if anything happens, the alert will be immediate.

3. Avoid Predictability: Disrupt Surveillance Patterns

1. Vary routines: Change travel routes, meeting times, and communication methods regularly.
2. Secure communications: Use coded language or offline methods (e.g., dead drops) for sensitive exchanges. There are a few useful devices here based on open-source hardware: Meshtatic Arduino LoRawan, or this version. They can be concealed by unscrewing the antenna and using a sticker to disguise it as they are something else, like a cellphone booster or something. Or this device that can be concealed as a thermometer/pressure gauge. It would be interesting to know if this version can be used with regular headphones instead of hunting ones.
3. Limit public confrontations: Sarmiento’s direct naming of corrupt officials and gang leaders made him a priority target. Share evidence anonymously via secure leaks (e.g., SecureDrop).

4. Prepare for the Worst: Contingency Plans

1. Emergency contacts: Designate trusted individuals outside the country to sound alarms if you’re detained or disappear.
2. “Go bags”: Keep passports, cash, burner phones, and medical supplies ready for rapid evacuation.
3. Legal safeguards: Power of attorney documents and pre-recorded video testimonies can help families navigate enforced disappearances.

5. Psychological Resilience: The Art of Subtle Resistance

When open dissent is lethal, indirect methods persist:

1. Cultural resistance: With a rejection percentage of over 90% the only tool the regime has is fear and violence. Using music, art, and satire, average people have learned to undermine the regime without naming names (e.g., Venezuela’s underground protest art scene).
2. Economic disobedience: Boycott regime-linked businesses and support local cooperatives. This is seemingly working, as new luxury businesses flourish overnight, and are very probably linked to money laundering activities.
3. Silent documentation: Secretly archive evidence of crimes for future accountability (e.g., Syria’s Caesar Files).

All of these types of regimes become a real hazard for their citizens. They need to show a strength that they usually don’t have, and once people start fighting back, they swiftly seek cover. Under the current atmosphere, people are slowly getting desperate, and we all agree that the environment feels like an unpredictable pressure cooker.

Please, be informed about the evolution in this part of the Continent, and write to your Congressmen!

There are real threats to the whole American Continent!

Thanks for your support of the Organic Prepper Writers Team!

Dani

About Daniela

Daniela Gonzalez is a student of history at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas.

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