Guatemalan Human Smugglers Admit to Roles in 2021 Mass Casualty Event in Chiapas, Mexico

Two foreign nationals have pleaded guilty to human smuggling charges related to the crash of a tractor-trailer packed with at least 160 illegal aliens which resulted in the deaths of more than 50 people, including unaccompanied children, and injured over 100 more.

"This tragic event shows that human smugglers do not care about the illegal aliens they come in contact with and transport despite the numerous risks, including extreme heat and dangerous travel conditions," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "This defendant and her co-conspirators maximized their profits by packing more than 100 men, women, and children into a tractor trailer, which ultimately ended in an accident that claimed the lives of 56 people."

"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 Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck for the Southern District of Texas. "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."

"This case highlights Homeland Security Investigations' (HSI) unwavering commitment to dismantling transnational criminal organizations that exploit vulnerable individuals for profit," said Acting Executive Associate Director John Condon. "This horrific tragedy, which claimed dozens of lives, underscores the urgent need to combat human smuggling. The successful prosecution of these smugglers reflects the dedication of our agents and the coordinated efforts of our domestic and international partners to safeguard our borders and uphold the rule of law."

Josefa Quino Canil De Zavala, 43, and Alberto Marcario Chitic, 32, both of Guatemala, acknowledged that they conspired with other smugglers to transport illegal aliens, both adults and unaccompanied minors, from Guatemala through Mexico to the United States. Canil De Zavala, Chitic and others recruited Guatemalan aliens, collected payment, and arranged for the aliens to travel by foot, inside microbuses, cattle trucks, and tractor-trailers.

Aliens paid Canil De Zavala and Chitic and their co-conspirators to be smuggled to the United States. In some cases, Canil De Zavala, Chitic and their co-conspirators provided scripted language to unaccompanied minors for their use if U.S. immigration authorities apprehended them.

During the conspiracy, on Dec. 9, 2021, Canil De Zavala, Chitic and others arranged for the aliens they were smuggling to the United States to be loaded into a tractor trailer that was to transport them through Mexico. The vehicle ultimately crashed north of the Guatemala/Mexico border near Tuxtla Guiterrez, Chiapas, Mexico, resulting in deaths and serious bodily injury.

Canil De Zavala and Chitic pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring and attempt to bring an illegal alien to the United States, placing life in jeopardy, causing serious bodily injury, and resulting in death. They will be sentenced on Sept. 9 and each will face a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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. U.S. authorities arrested an additional Guatemalan national illegally present in the U.S., Jorge Agapito Ventura, 33, at his residence in Cleveland, Texas, in December 2024. Ramos entered a guilty plea in April. The others are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

HSI's Counter Proliferation Investigations Group in Washington D.C. investigated the case in partnership with HSI Guatemala and HSI Mexico. Valuable assistance was provided by HSI's Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C.; HSI Houston; HSI Laredo; U.S. Customs and Border Protection's International Interdiction Task Force; U.S. Border Patrol; Liberty County Constable, Precinct 6; ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston; U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas; and the Criminal Division's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training. The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing the arrests and extraditions of the defendants. Guatemalan prosecutors from the Office of Public Ministry and Mexican prosecutors from the Republic of Mexico's Federal Prosecutions Office, with the support of law enforcement officials from both countries, were also instrumental in furthering the investigation.

Senior Trial Attorney Danielle Hickman of the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mary Lou Castillo and Jennifer Day for the Southern District of Texas are prosecuting the case, with substantial assistance from HRSP Latin American Specialist/Historian Joanna Crandall.

The investigation and charges are supported and prosecuted by Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), the Department's lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA's mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean, and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, the Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Southern District of California; District of Arizona; District of New Mexico; Western and Southern Districts of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and District of Vermont. JTFA also partners with other USAOs throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including ICE/HSI and CBP/BP and OFO, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA's work has resulted in more than 458 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 408 U.S. convictions; more than 357 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.

This case is also part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime