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Guatemala follows money in migrant smuggling investigations

FILE - Men who are allegedly belonging to a group that trafficked Guatemalan migrants who were later massacred in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico in 2021, wait for a hearing to begin in the courts of justice in Guatemala City, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. The smuggling rings often use networks of relatives or close associates. Like many illicit endeavors, they pour their profits back into businesses in the darker corners of the economy that operate primarily with hard-to-trace cash, like brothels, gambling, bars and loan-sharkin. (AP Photo/Oliver de Ros, File) FILE - Stuardo Campo, Guatemala's prosecutor for migrant trafficking, takes part in a raid against alleged migrant smugglers near the Mexican border in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File) FILE - A detainee who identified himself as Felipe Diego Alonzo is escorted away from his property during a police raid against alleged migrant smugglers near the Mexican border in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. Alonzo and three others were arrested at the request of the U.S. government, which is seeking their extradition. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File) FILE - David Coronado Perez, who is allegedly part of a human trafficking network, is escorted by an officer at the end of his court hearing, in Guatemala City, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. Coronado’s lawyer said his client is innocent and that Coronado is a farmer, not a smuggler, and is himself a victim because his son was among those killed in Mexico. (AP Photo/Oliver de Ros, File) FILE - The flag-draped coffins of Guatemalan migrants who were killed near the U.S.-Mexico border in January stand on the runway after they were flown to an Air Force base in Guatemala City, Friday, March 12, 2021. Guatemalans are paying as much as $15,000 to get to the U.S. and prosecutors are increasingly trying to track where that money goes as the illicit business evolves. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
Guatemala follows money in migrant smuggling investigations