GUATEMALA CITY, April 26, 2024 (AFP) – Guatemalan authorities on Thursday raided the offices of the international organization Save the Children in what the prosecutor’s office said was part of an investigation into alleged abuses against minors.
A spokesperson for Save the Children confirmed that officials had entered its offices in Guatemala City, but declined to give more details.
The operation was the result of “a transnational investigation of great significance, since it concerns actions that could be related to violations and abuses against Guatemalan children,” state prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche said in a video published on social media.
Guatemalan authorities had sought assistance from prosecutors in the US state of Texas, he said, adding that the operation involved an “inspection, search and seizure of evidence.”
Curruchiche heads the special prosecutor’s office against impunity and is considered an ally of Guatemala’s controversial attorney general, Consuelo Porras.
Porras is listed as corrupt and undemocratic by the US Justice Department and has been accused of plotting to oust President Bernardo Arevalo, who wants to fire him.
The raid follows reports in local media that Guatemalan prosecutors asked the Texas attorney general’s office for help investigating alleged trafficking of Guatemalan children on the southern US border.
Prosecutors were seen entering the building of Save the Children, which has been working in Guatemala since a devastating earthquake in 1976 that left more than 25,000 people dead.
It opened a permanent office there in 1983 and says it provides education, health, child protection and humanitarian aid, including to migrant children and their families who cross Guatemala´s southern border.
In a statement released last week, Save the Children denied facilitating “the movement of children” out of Guatemala.
“We are aware of the claims regarding the wellbeing of migrant children,” it said.
“We take all child safeguarding and misconduct allegations extremely seriously and have independent investigative mechanisms in place to investigate them thoroughly,” the statement added.
“We have no evidence to support these claims and remain dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to migrant children and their families under strict standards of protection and safeguarding,” it said.
According to the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre, the prosecutor’s office sent a letter to the Texas attorney general on April 12 naming Save the Children and several other NGOs that were under suspicion.
It said the organizations were suspected of “participating in a child trafficking operation.”