Two Guatemalans who participated in a human trafficking ring responsible for a tractor-trailer crash that left more than 50 migrants dead in Chiapas, Mexico, in 2021 have pleaded guilty in the United States and now face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The United States Department of Justice reported this Wednesday, July 8, that Agapito Jorge Ventura, 34, a Guatemalan who remained illegally in that country, and Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, 26, extradited from Guatemala in 2025, admitted their responsibility in a conspiracy to illegally introduce migrants into United States territory.
Both accepted charges of conspiracy to introduce and attempt to introduce undocumented immigrants into the United States, endangering the lives of those transported, causing serious bodily injury and causing death.
Sentencing was scheduled for October 6. Although the maximum expected sentence for both is life in prison, a federal judge will determine the sentence after analyzing the United States Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Tragedy in Chiapas
According to the investigation, Ventura, Zavala Quino and other members of the organization coordinated the transfer of at least 160 migrants, including adults and unaccompanied minors, from Guatemala, through Mexico, bound for the United States.
On December 9, 2021, the migrants were crammed into a truck with a trailer that later crashed near Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, north of the border between Guatemala and Mexico.
The accident caused the death of more than 50 people and left more than a hundred injured, in one of the deadliest human trafficking-related accidents recorded in Mexico.
Organization operated from Houston
The US authorities indicated that foreigners paid Ventura, Zavala Quino and other members of the structure to be illegally transferred to the United States.
According to the indictment, Ventura coordinated part of the operations from the Houston, Texas area. Additionally, during the parole policy applied by the previous US administration, it facilitated the release of Guatemalan migrants detained by immigration authorities, including unaccompanied minors.
The investigation also maintains that Ventura provided instructions and scripts with false information so that migrants could respond to immigration authorities if they were detained. Likewise, it made it easier for a person to pose as a relative of migrants to arrange their release.
Five have already accepted their responsibility
The Department of Justice reported that six people were charged in this case and that five have already pleaded guilty to being part of the organization dedicated to human trafficking from Guatemala to the United States.
Among them are Daniel Zavala Ramos, Josefa Canil de Zavala, Alberto Macario Chitic and Tomás Quino Canil, as well as Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino.
The authorities detailed that Zavala Ramos, 42, pleaded guilty on April 7; Josefa Canil de Zavala, 44, and Alberto Macario Chitic, 33, did so on June 11. Ventura was captured in December 2024 at his residence in Cleveland, Texas.
The five Guatemalans were extradited from Guatemala in 2025 to face criminal proceedings in the United States.
Authorities warn of the consequences
The assistant attorney general of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, A. Tysen Duva, said that the case demonstrates that human traffickers prioritize economic gains over the lives of migrants.
For his part, the federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Texas, John E. Marck, pointed out that the defendants treated more than 150 people “like merchandise” by transporting them crowded inside a tractor-trailer without considering the risk to their lives.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), through the Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), indicated that the guilty pleas send a message that those who are part of human trafficking networks will be prosecuted, even if they operate outside the United States.
Another Guatemalan faces life in prison
This case joins another judicial process related to human trafficking.
On July 2, Rigoberto Ramón Miranda Orozco, identified by US authorities as the alleged leader of a human trafficking organization based in Guatemala, pleaded guilty for his participation in the deadliest migrant smuggling incident that occurred in the United States.
The case corresponds to the discovery of a truck without ventilation in San Antonio, Texas, on June 27, 2022, where 66 migrants were traveling. Fifty-three died from the high temperatures and eleven survived with injuries.
Miranda Orozco also faces charges of conspiracy to illegally introduce immigrants into the United States resulting in death and could be sentenced to life in prison.
*Stay up to date with the Now newsletter. Key information at the moment it happens. Subscribe here. Immigration crisis, Immigration policy, Migrant tragedy, Tragedy in Chiapas, United States Justice, Coyotaje in Guatemala