Two Guatemalan nationals have entered guilty pleas in a federal court in Texas for their roles in a human smuggling operation that culminated in a deadly December 2021 tractor-trailer crash in southern Mexico.
Prosecutors say Josefa Quino Canil De Zavala, 43, and Alberto Marcario Chitic, 32, admitted in court on Thursday that they conspired to transport adults and unaccompanied children from Guatemala through Mexico into the United States. Both were extradited from Guatemala to the U.S. to face the charges, according to a statement from the U.S. Justice Department.
Their plea is tied to an incident in which an estimated 166 migrants were packed into a tractor-trailer that overturned and struck a bridge abutment near Tuxtla Gutierrez in the Mexican state of Chiapas on December 9, 2021. The crash resulted in 55 deaths, including that of a 16-year-old girl, and left dozens more injured. Video footage taken at the scene showed bodies strewn across the crash site, and Mexican officials said nearly all of the victims were Guatemalan.
Chiapas authorities noted that among the injured were three people from the Dominican Republic, a Honduran, a Mexican and an Ecuadoran. Survivors described being packed so tightly inside the trailer compartment that most individuals were only able to stand, according to accounts linked to the case.
Each defendant pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to transport an illegal alien to the United States, causing serious bodily injury resulting in death, the Justice Department said. If sentenced to the maximum penalty, both face life imprisonment. Their sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 9 in federal court in Texas.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas John Marck characterized the operation as methodical and commercial in its approach. "The defendants ran a calculated alien smuggling operation that moved people across borders like a supply chain - recruiting them in Guatemala, collecting their money and packing them into cattle trucks and tractor-trailers for a dangerous journey through Mexico," he said. Marck added that unaccompanied minors moved by the network were reportedly coached with scripted language to use if they were intercepted by law enforcement when attempting to enter the United States.
The two who pleaded guilty are among several Guatemalans accused in the scheme. Daniel Zavala Ramos, 41; Tomas Quino Canil, 37; and Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, 25, were extradited from Guatemala to the United States in 2025 to face charges. U.S. authorities also arrested another Guatemalan national, Jorge Agapito Ventura, 33, in Texas in December 2024. Ramos previously entered a guilty plea in April. Proceedings remain pending for the three other individuals named.
The case remains a high-profile example of the lethal risks associated with large-scale migrant-smuggling operations that move people along routes through Mexico toward the United States. The court filings and pleas in Texas lay out the alleged logistics of the operation described by prosecutors: recruitment in Guatemala, payment collection, and the use of tightly confined vehicles to transport migrants across national borders.
Key context
- The crash occurred on December 9, 2021, near Tuxtla Gutierrez in Chiapas, Mexico, and killed 55 of the approximately 166 migrants in the vehicle.
- The defendants acknowledged conspiring to smuggle both adults and unaccompanied children from Guatemala through Mexico into the United States.
- Extraditions and arrests related to the alleged smuggling network have taken place across 2024 and 2025, and additional prosecutions remain pending.