Crime
ICE teams up with Guatemala police to bust human smuggling ring that left 19 dead
Last January 19, migrants on their way to the U.S. were stopped, shot and burned in a human smuggling attempt gone wrong
February 9, 2022 10:41am
Updated: February 10, 2022 9:14am
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Monday the arrests of 10 Guatemalan nationals tied to the Jan. 2021 murders of 19 foreign nationals in a human smuggling event in Tamaulipas, Mexico.
According to officials, last January 19 migrants on their way to the U.S. were stopped, shot and burned in a human smuggling attempt gone wrong. The suspects allegedly had run similar operations before, but the failed attempt resulted in a bloody massacre in which five of the victims were minors.
Authorities discovered the victims on January 22 in two burnt-out vehicles along the US-Mexico border and the 10 suspects now face charges including human trafficking, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
The investigation was conducted by ICE in collaboration with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), HSI Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit (TCIU), Guatemalan National Police (PNC), and Guatemalan Prosecutor for Illicit Migrant Trafficking, an ICE press release revealed.
HSI’s acting regional attaché for the North Triangle, Carlos Gamarra, said the arrests broke up a “major human smuggling organization.”
“This joint transnational operation targeting a major human smuggling organization shows the importance of both governments collaborating to apprehend the individuals responsible and hold them accountable for transporting these noncitizens en route to the United States, which ultimately led to their deaths,” he noted.
“Hopefully, the results of these high-level arrests can bring some justice to the victims’ families.”
Shortly after the attack, Mexican authorities charged 12 local police officers with the migrants’ deaths – but the slaughter ultimately led to the initiation of an investigation into the human smuggling organization.
Ramiro Coronado Pérez, the former mayor of the Western Guatemalan town of Comitancillo is accused of leading the migrant smuggling ring alongside his brother, David Coronado Pérez, a 2019 mayoral candidate in the same town.
On Jan. 28, 2022, investigators served 19 search warrants and arrested the 10 suspects, including the Coronado brothers. Officials reported seizing a sum of more than $200,000, five vehicles, illegal gambling machines and a single firearm.
The suspects appeared in court in Guatemala City last Friday.
