Guatemalan authorities on Friday rescued 160 children and teenagers from the radical Jewish sect Lev Tahor in southeastern Guatemala after allegations of child abuse, including rape, prosecutors said.
Why is this important?
The rescue operation in the agricultural municipality of Oratorio, 78 kilometers (48.47 miles) southeast of Guatemala City, highlights ongoing concern over the controversial practices of the Lev Tahor sect, which has faced similar accusations in the past.
Key quote
“Based on the statements of the complainants, the evidence obtained and the medical tests, it is possible to establish that there are forms of human trafficking against these minors such as forced marriage, abuse and related crimes,” Nancy Paige, a prosecutor at the Office of the Prosecutor of Guatemala Against Human Trafficking, said in a press conference.
context
The Lev Tahor community, founded in Israel in 1988, practices a strict form of Judaism with an interpretation of Jewish law that includes long prayer sessions and arranged marriages.
Lev Tahor (“Pure Heart” in Hebrew) has faced numerous allegations of kidnapping, child marriage and physical abuse since its founding in the 1980s.
The community settled in Mexico and Guatemala between 2014 and 2017. In 2022, a Mexican police operation in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, bordering Guatemala, rescued a group of children and teenagers from the Lev Tahor camp, whose members had been arrested on suspicion. Participating in abuse against minors.
The Jewish community of Guatemala said in a statement that the sect was foreign to its own organization and expressed its support for Guatemalan authorities to carry out the necessary investigation “to protect the lives and integrity of vulnerable minors and other vulnerable groups”.
It called on “the governments and diplomatic corps of countries that become members of the Lev Tahor nationalities to join forces to protect those whose rights may be violated.”
what now
The minors are now in government custody and investigations are ongoing.
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