CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Two Guatemalan nationals have pleaded guilty to human smuggling charges connected to a tractor-trailer crash in Mexico that killed more than 50 people, injured over 100 others and left unaccompanied children among the dead.
Josefa Quino Canil De Zavala, 43, and Alberto Marcario Chitic, 32, admitted they conspired with other smugglers to recruit Guatemalan migrants, collect payment and arrange for them to travel by foot, inside microbuses, cattle trucks and tractor-trailers from Guatemala through Mexico to the United States. In some cases, the two provided scripted language to unaccompanied minors to use if U.S. immigration authorities apprehended them.
On Dec. 9, 2021, the pair arranged for more than 160 migrants to be loaded into a tractor-trailer for transport through Mexico. The vehicle crashed north of the Guatemala-Mexico border near Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, killing more than 50 people and injuring over 100 more.
"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," Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck for the Southern District of Texas said. "This was an organized, profit-driven network that even handed scripts to children so they could lie to law enforcement if caught entering the United States. That operation ended with the loss of more than 50 lives on a Mexican roadside, and today's convictions make clear that the Southern District of Texas will work to shut down these networks at every level."
Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring and attempt to bring an illegal alien into the United States, placing life in jeopardy, causing serious bodily injury and resulting in death. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 9 before U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo. Each faces up to life in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Canil De Zavala, Chitic and three other Guatemalan nationals — Daniel Zavala Ramos, 41, Tomas Quino Canil, 37, and Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, 25 — were extradited from Guatemala in 2025 to face charges. A sixth defendant, Jorge Agapito Ventura, 33, was arrested at his Cleveland residence in December 2024. Ramos entered a guilty plea in April. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case was investigated by HSI's Counter Proliferation Investigations Group and is being prosecuted as part of Joint Task Force Alpha, a DOJ and DHS partnership targeting human smuggling and trafficking networks. It is also part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide DOJ initiative targeting illegal immigration and transnational criminal organizations.
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