Key facts
- Jorge Agapito Ventura and Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino pleaded guilty to human smuggling charges.
- The charges are linked to a 2021 tractor-trailer crash in Mexico that killed 55 migrants.
- The victims were among over 160 migrants packed into the vehicle.
- Ventura and Quino admitted to conspiring to smuggle adults and unaccompanied children from Guatemala through Mexico into the United States.
- Sentencing for both men is scheduled for October 6.
Two Guatemalan nationals, Jorge Agapito Ventura, 34, and Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, 26, have pleaded guilty in Texas to human smuggling charges. These charges stem from a tragic incident in December 2021 when a tractor-trailer carrying over 160 migrants overturned in Mexico, resulting in the deaths of 55 individuals. Ventura, arrested in Texas in December 2024, and Quino, extradited to the U.S. in 2022, both admitted in federal court to conspiring to smuggle migrants from Guatemala through Mexico into the United States. The accident occurred near Tuxtla Gutierrez in Chiapas, Mexico, when the overloaded rig slammed into a bridge abutment. Survivors described being packed so tightly that most could only stand. Mexican officials reported that nearly all victims were Guatemalan. Three other co-defendants extradited to the U.S. have already pleaded guilty, while charges against a sixth defendant remain pending. Both Ventura and Quino face a maximum penalty of life in prison, with sentencing scheduled for October 6.