LAREDO, Texas — A Guatemalan man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to a felony and acknowledged his role in an attempt to illegally smuggle migrants to the U.S. when a crowded tractor-trailer crashed in Mexico in 2021, killing more than 50 people.
Daniel Zavala Ramos, 42, faces a possible life sentence after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Laredo, Texas, to a single count of conspiring to bring migrants without documents from Guatemala through Mexico to the U.S., and to placing lives in jeopardy and causing serious injury and deaths, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Sentencing is set for July 7.
Ramos was one of six Guatemalans charged over the semitrailer crash and the first to be convicted. The other five defendants have a final pretrial conference on June 3, according to court records. Ramos’ attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Authorities said at least 160 migrants, many from Guatemala, were packed into the truck when it struck the support base for a pedestrian bridge on Dec. 9, 2021, and overturned. At least 53 people were killed and more than 100 injured; video from the scene showed dead and injured migrants piled inside the truck’s collapsed freight container. The Justice Department said the dead included unaccompanied children.
The crash occurred on a highway toward the Chiapas state capital, roughly 160 miles (260 kilometers) from Mexico’s border with Guatemala and about 1,400 miles (2,300 kilometers) south of the U.S. border with Texas.
Authorities announced arrests of Ramos and the five others in Guatemala and Texas in 2024, on the third anniversary of the accident. Ramos was extradited from Guatemala in 2025 to face the charges, the DOJ said.
Prosecutors say the group conspired to smuggle migrants from Guatemala through Mexico to the U.S. for payment. In cases involving unaccompanied children, defendants provided scripts instructing children what to say if apprehended, authorities said. The smugglers moved migrants by foot, microbus, cattle truck and tractor-trailer, and used Facebook Messenger to request and deliver identification documents to facilitate entry into the U.S.