6 Guatemalans arrested and charged with human smuggling in deadly 2021 Mexico truck crash
AUSTIN, Texas — Six Guatemalans have been arrested in Guatemala and Texas on human smuggling charges linked to a 2021 semitrailer truck crash in Mexico that killed more than 50 migrants, authorities said.
The truck had been 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 third anniversary of the accident.
According to an indictment unsealed Monday in Laredo, Texas, Guatemalan authorities arrested Tomas Quino Canil, 36; Alberto Marcario Chitic, 31; Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, 24; and Josefa Quino Canil de Zavala, 42.
A fifth man, Jorge Agapito Ventura, was arrested at his home in Cleveland, Texas, U.S. authorities said. Guatemalan officials noted a sixth arrest, but the sixth name listed on the U.S. federal indictment was blacked out.
Rescue workers arriving at a road accident in southern Mexico found a truck jammed with as many as 200 migrants crashed into the base of a steel pedestrian bridge, killing 55 and injuring dozens.
The accused were charged with conspiracy, placing life in jeopardy, causing serious bodily injury, and resulting in death. The indictment charges them with conspiring to smuggle migrants from Guatemala through Mexico to the U.S. for payment. In some cases that involved smuggling unaccompanied children, the defendants would provide scripts of what to say if apprehended, the indictment said.
The smugglers would move migrants on foot, inside microbuses, cattle trucks and tractor trailers, the indictment said. It said the smugglers would use Facebook Messenger to request and deliver identification documents to the migrants to get them into the U.S.
“The tragedy that occurred three years ago today in Chiapas is further proof that human smugglers are ruthless, callous and dangerous,” said U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas.
Guatemalan Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez said that the defendants were part of a criminal structure called Los Quino, and that U.S. officials had requested extradition of the four arrested in Guatemala.
Authorities executed 15 search warrants across Guatemala on Monday, Jiménez said. He said they had the support of the U.S. and Mexican governments.
Vertuno writes for the Associated Press.
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