Guatemalan authorities rescued 160 children this Friday from a property belonging to the Lev Tahor sect, an ultra-orthodox Jewish group under investigation for alleged sexual abuse of minors, reported the Minister of Interior and the Prosecutor’s Office. “Operation allowed the rescue of 160 minors who were allegedly abused by a member of the Lev Tahor sect,” wrote Minister Francisco Jiménez on social network X after a raid on the property located in the municipality of Oratorio, about 60 km southwest of the capital, where the sect settled in 2016.
Prosecutor Dimas Jiménez stated in a press conference that the raid was conducted due to “suspicion” of human trafficking crimes “in the form of forced pregnancy, abuse against minors, and rape.” During the raid, alleged skeletal remains of a minor were found, added the prosecutor’s office.
“Zero tolerance for child abuse!” said the minister, who specified that they had support from the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Jewish sect Lev Tahor was under scrutiny by Guatemalan authorities for complaints of child abuse, forced marriages, and teenage pregnancies.
In October, authorities conducted a raid to verify the status of the minors after a failed attempt in August, but the sect’s leaders again prevented them from speaking with the children. The sect, which has described the investigations as “religious persecution,” settled in Oratorio in 2016 after being expelled from an indigenous Maya village in 2014 due to conflicts with locals and spending time in a building in the Guatemalan capital.
Lev Tahor was formed in the 1980s and its members, who wear dark robes and practice an ultra-orthodox version of Judaism, established themselves in Guatemala in 2013. Authorities estimate that the group consists of 50 families, primarily from Guatemala, the United States, and Canada.
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