A Guatemalan man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to conspiracy charges related to a human smuggling operation that ended in a deadly truck crash in southern Mexico in 2021.

Daniel Zavala Ramos, 42, acknowledged his involvement in attempting to illegally transport migrants from Guatemala through Mexico to the United States when he entered his plea in U.S. District Court in Laredo, Texas. He faces a possible life sentence on the single charge of conspiring to bring undocumented migrants across borders while placing lives in jeopardy and causing serious injury and deaths.

The case stems from a December 9, 2021 crash in Chiapas state, Mexico, where a tractor-trailer carrying at least 160 migrants struck the support base of a pedestrian bridge and overturned. The accident killed at least 53 people and injured more than 100 others, with many of the victims being Guatemalan nationals. Video footage from the scene showed dead and injured migrants in a collapsed freight container.

Ramos was among six Guatemalans charged in connection with the crash and is the first to be convicted. The other five defendants have a pretrial conference scheduled for June 3. Ramos was extradited from Guatemala in 2025 to face the charges, with all arrests announced in 2024 on the third anniversary of the crash.

Prosecutors said the defendants operated a smuggling conspiracy that transported migrants using various methods including on foot, in microbuses, cattle trucks, and tractor-trailers. The operation allegedly used Facebook Messenger to coordinate the delivery of identification documents and provided scripts for unaccompanied children to use if apprehended by authorities. Ramos is scheduled for sentencing on July 7.