Guatemalan National Extradited to the United States Admits to Role in 2021 Alien Smuggling Mass Casualty Event in Chiapas, Mexico

A Guatemalan national pleaded guilty to human smuggling charges related to the crash of a tractor-trailer in 2021 that was 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. The defendant is part of a group of six who were charged in this case. All six defendants have now admitted to their role in a conspiracy to bring illegal aliens from Guatemala into the United States. Tomas Quino Canil, 38, a Guatemalan national extradited to the United States in 2025, acknowledged that he conspired with other smugglers to smuggle and transport illegal aliens, both adults and unaccompanied minors, from Guatemala through Mexico to the United States. Aliens paid Quino Canil and his co-conspirators to be smuggled into the United States. During the previous Administration’s policy to parole illegal aliens into the United States, one of his co-conspirators also facilitated the release of Guatemalan aliens, who were smuggled illegally into the United States, from U.S. immigration authorities, to include unaccompanied minors. That co-conspirator provided co-defendants, including Quino Canil, with falsified scripts and instructions to provide to adults and unaccompanied minors on what to say to immigration officials if apprehended to secure their release. On Dec. 9, 2021, Agapito Jorge Ventura, Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, Quino Canil 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. Over 150 illegal aliens, including adults and unaccompanied minors, were crammed into the trailer. The vehicle ultimately crashed north of the Guatemala/Mexico border near Tuxtla Guiterrez, Chiapas, Mexico, resulting in deaths and serious bodily injury. Quino Canil, 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. He will be sentenced at a later date. He faces 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. Co-defendants Daniel Zavala Ramos, Josefa Canil De Zavala, Alberto Macario Chitic, and Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, were extradited from Guatemala in 2025 to face charges. Authorities arrested Jorge Agapito Ventura, 33, at his residence in Cleveland, Texas, in December 2024. Zavala Ramos, 42, pleaded guilty on April 7. Canil De Zavala, 44, and Macario Chitic, 33, pleaded guilty on June 11. Agapito Jorge Ventura, 34, and Manuel Zavala Quino, 26, pleaded guilty on July 8. The guilty plea of Quino Canil marks the last of the six defendants to plead guilty to the conspiracy.