A Guatemalan national pleaded guilty on Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to conspiring to import more than 450 kilograms of cocaine into the United States, the US Department of Justice said.

Source: US Department of Justice, Eastern District of Virginia

Donelfert Monterroso Vasquez, 51, coordinated the movement of multi-hundred-kilogram quantities of cocaine from Colombia through Guatemala and on to Mexico, according to court documents cited by prosecutors. A network of associates then transported the cocaine further into the United States, where, prosecutors said, its distribution would generate the highest profit.

Source: US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs

The defendant and his co-conspirators communicated over an encrypted platform, prosecutors said. At one point Monterroso Vasquez sent an image of a brick of cocaine stamped “USA”, indicating the cocaine was destined for the United States.

Arrest, plea and sentencing date

Monterroso Vasquez was arrested upon landing at an airport in the United States in June 2026 and has remained in custody since then. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 26, 2027, and faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The announcement was made by Theophani K. Stamos, First Assistant US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, and Jim Scott, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Louisville Field Division. DEA Memphis investigated the case, with assistance from the DEA's Special Operations Division, its offices in Guatemala and Colombia, and the Guatemalan National Police.