Guatemalan officials raided a compound on Friday belonging to Lev Tahor, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect with past links to child exploitation. At least 160 children and teenagers were removed from the site after prosecutors believed they were victims of human trafficking and other offenses.
Regional prosecutor Dimas Jiménez y Jiménez said that authorities were considering charges including human trafficking, forced pregnancy, mistreatment of minors, and rape. A deputy commissioner of the National Civil Police, Manuel Salvador Aldana Monzón, was arrested on Friday night in relation to leaking confidential information to one of the leaders.
The raid came after four non-Guatemalan minors ran away from the community in November and alerted authorities. Medical examinations and evidence found that these minors had indeed experienced forms of human trafficking. The authorities also discovered bodies buried on the premises, although it is unclear if the sect used the town’s cemeteries for burial.
A group of nearly 480 police officers, soldiers, prosecutors, and psychologists secured and removed the minors from the compound. Electronic devices were seized, including computers and cellphones, and evidence was searched for child pornography. Dogs were also used to detect buried human remains.
This is not the first attempt by Guatemalan authorities to investigate Lev Tahor. In 2018, they began taking notice of the sect after receiving anonymous complaints about its activities. Former members and fugitive minors told prosecutors of forced child pregnancies, forced marriages, lack of food, and absence of health services.
The group’s leaders have repeatedly criticized the authorities, accusing them of religious persecution. However, officials emphasize that no belief or profession makes its members immune from the law. This raid is part of a broader effort to investigate Lev Tahor, which has been linked to human trafficking crimes in the past.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/20/world/americas/guatemala-raid-ultra-orthodox-jewish-sect.html