Media downplaying Aurora, Colorado Venezuelan gangs: ex-resident

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A woman who was forced out of her Aurora, Colo. apartment complex after it was taken over by members of the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua blasted the media for downplaying the terrifying situation — after GOP Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance clashed with an ABC reporter over the gang takeovers.

“I feel like it’s a slap in the face,” Cindy Romero told Fox News Monday. “How many gangs is okay to have in Aurora? How many properties is okay to take over? How many people, who are citizens paying their bills, is it okay to displace?”

Romero’s comments came just after Sen. JD Vance slammed ABC News host Martha Raddatz after she tried to fact-check the Ohio lawmaker about reports of the Venezuelan prison gang’s operations in the city.

“I feel like it’s a slap in the face,” Cindy Romero told Fox News Digital. Fox News

Raddatz pushed back on former President Donald Trump’s claims that the gang has “conquered” the city, telling Vance that the Aurora mayor has said the incidents “were limited to a handful of apartment complexes” that the police department has dealt with.

An irate Vance shot back, “Martha, do you hear yourself? Only a handful of apartment complexes in America were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem and not Kamala Harris’ open border?”

“I really find this exchange, Martha, sort of interesting, because you seem to be more focused [on] nitpicking everything that Donald Trump has said rather than acknowledging that apartment complexes in the United States of America are being taken over by violent gangs,” he added.

Romero and her husband fled their home in August following several shootouts, including one where her car was struck by a bullet, she told Fox. In another incident caught on their doorbell camera, a group of armed men forced their way into a neighbor’s house, video shows.

She said her frequent calls to 911 often went unanswered.

“I feel like the mayor and the governor and the [police] all downplay the situation,” Romero said. “I was pushed out of my apartment by gang activity, people carrying guns in the hallway and patrolling the grounds with guns.”

She and her husband moved out of their apartment in August after Romero said the crime got to be too much to handle. Edward Romero

Last week, a Brooklyn-based company that owns properties in the Denver suburb shared a photo of one of its workers allegedly beaten bloody by Tren de Aragua members for refusing to let them stay in a vacant apartment they had taken over.

Elon Musk even highlighted The Post’s coverage of the beatdown on X on Tuesday morning.

The gangsters have threatened employees and tried to extort CBZ Management for a cut of the rent in exchange for being allowed to keep operating the properties, the company claimed. As a result, they’ve pulled their workers away from their buildings.

Last month, local police announced the arrest of 10 members of the Tren de Aragua gang in connection with criminal activity around apartment buildings. Edward Romero

“Despite clear evidence, many still deny the reality of the situation, sometimes using us as scapegoats. That’s why we are no longer staying silent,” said the company, which has been cited multiple times for its blighted properties.

Local police announced the arrest of 10 members of the Tren de Aragua gang in connection with criminal activity around apartment buildings last month.

Trump visited Aurora last week and attempted to link the gang problems to the Harris-Biden administration’s border policies. He proposed a plan to mobilize ICE, Border Patrol and federal law enforcement to “hunt down, arrest and deport every last illegal alien gang member until there is not a single one left in this country.” Local and national news outlets have called Trump’s depiction of the situation misleading.

City officials accused the media of having “considerably exaggerated incidents that are isolated to a handful of problem properties alone.”

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, has said that the “situation is real, but it also needs to be put into context.”

The city, he told Fox, is “a victim” of border policies and Denver’s status as a sanctuary city.

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