Six Guatemalans were arrested in Guatemala and in Texas on Monday on human smuggling charges linked to a 2021 semi-trailer truck crash in Mexico that killed more than 50 people, 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 three-year 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.
Another man, Jorge Agapito Ventura, was arrested at his home in Cleveland, Texas, authorities said. Guatemalan officials noted a sixth arrest. A sixth name listed on the US federal indictment was blacked out.
The accused were charged with conspiracy, placing life in jeopardy, causing serious bodily injury and resulting in death.
It was unclear late on Monday if those arrested had attorneys in the US who could comment on their behalf. Justice department officials did not immediately respond to an email on Monday night.
The indictment charges them with conspiring to smuggle people from Guatemala through Mexico to the US 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 people to get them into the US.
“The tragedy that occurred three years ago today in Chiapas is further proof that human smugglers are ruthless, callous and dangerous, intending migrants should not believe their lives,” said US secretary of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas.
Guatemalan interior minister Francisco Jiménez said the defendants were part of a criminal structure called Los Quino, and that US 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 US and Mexican governments.
Source: theguardian.com
