6 Guatemalans arrested and charged with human smuggling in 2021 Mexico bus crash that killed dozens
LAREDO, Texas — Six Guatemalans are charged with human trafficking linked to a truck accident with semi-trailer in Mexico in 2021, killing more than 50 migrants and arresting them in Guatemala and Texas, US and Guatemalan authorities announced on Monday.
The truck was packed with at least 160 migrants, many of them Guatemalans, when it crashed into a support for a pedestrian bridge in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of the southern state of Chiapas. The arrests were announced on the three-year anniversary of the accident.
According to an indictment unsealed Monday in the Southern District of Texas, Guatemalan authorities arrested Tomas Quino Canil, 36; Alberto Marcario Chitic, 31; Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, 24; and Josefa Quino Canil de Zavala, 42.
Another man, Jorge Agapito Ventura, was arrested at his home in Cleveland, Texas, US authorities said. Officials in Guatemala recorded a sixth arrest. A sixth name on the US federal indictment was blacked out.
The suspects were charged with conspiracy, endangering life, causing grievous bodily harm resulting in death.
The indictment accuses them of conspiring to smuggle migrants from Guatemala through Mexico to the U.S. for money. In some cases involving the trafficking of unaccompanied children, the defendants provided scripts of what to say if they were apprehended, the indictment said.
The smugglers would transport migrants on foot, in microbuses, cattle trucks and tractors, the indictment said.
“The tragedy that occurred in Chiapas three years ago today is further evidence that human traffickers are ruthless, callous, dangerous, and intend to deprive migrants of their lives,” said U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
Guatemala’s Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez said the defendants were part of a criminal structure called Los Quino, and that US officials had requested the extradition of those arrested in Guatemala.
Authorities executed 15 search warrants across Guatemala on Monday, Jiménez said. He said they had the support of the US and Mexican governments.