A pair of Guatemalan nationals entered guilty pleas Thursday in Texas federal court on human trafficking charges linked to a fatal December 2021 truck accident in Mexico that claimed the lives of 55 migrants among more than 160 people crammed inside the vehicle.
Josefa Quino Canil De Zavala, age 43, and Alberto Marcario Chitic, age 32, who were brought to the United States through extradition, acknowledged their participation in a conspiracy to transport adults and children without guardians from Guatemala through Mexico to reach the United States, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
During one smuggling attempt, approximately 166 migrants were stuffed into a commercial truck that flipped over and crashed into a bridge support structure close to Tuxtla Gutierrez in Chiapas, Mexico.
The December 9, 2021, collision resulted in 55 migrant deaths, including one 16-year-old female, while many others sustained injuries. Video recordings from the scene revealed bodies spread throughout the crash location.
Mexican officials reported at that time that almost all victims were from Guatemala. Chiapas authorities indicated that among the injured were three individuals from the Dominican Republic, along with one person each from Honduras, Mexico, and Ecuador.
Those who survived described being pressed into the trailer space so densely that the majority could only remain standing. The incident was considered one of the most fatal migrant-smuggling tragedies in Mexico over the past ten years.
Both Canil De Zavala and Chitic entered guilty pleas for conspiracy to illegally transport individuals to the United States, causing severe physical harm that led to fatalities, the Justice Department announced.
Each defendant could receive a life sentence when their sentencing occurs on September 9 in Texas federal court, officials stated.
“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,” said John Marck, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas.
Marck noted that children without guardians who were smuggled by this network received prepared statements to repeat to authorities if apprehended while attempting to enter the United States.
These two defendants along with three additional Guatemalans charged with participating in the scheme – Daniel Zavala Ramos, 41, Tomas Quino Canil, 37, and Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, 25 – were brought from Guatemala to the United States in 2025 to answer charges.
Federal authorities also detained another Guatemalan citizen, Jorge Agapito Ventura, 33, in Texas during December 2024. Ramos submitted a guilty plea in April. Legal proceedings against the remaining three individuals continue.
