An agent from the legal professional basic’s office carries proof collected at Save the Children’s headquarters throughout a raid in Guatemala City on Thursday, April 25, 2024.
Moises Castillo/AP
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Moises Castillo/AP
An agent from the legal professional basic’s office carries proof collected at Save the Children’s headquarters throughout a raid in Guatemala City on Thursday, April 25, 2024.
Moises Castillo/AP
GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemalan prosecutors raided the places of work of the charity Save the Children on Thursday, citing a complaint alleging the violation of migrant children’s rights.
Prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche mentioned in a video to media that the complaint filed by an unidentified foreigner had raised critical considerations as a result of it concerned allegations of abuse of children.
The raid got here a week after the secretary basic of Guatemala’s Public Ministry, Ángel Pineda, wrote a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asking for help in addressing allegations that Save the Children and different assist teams “could be participating in child trafficking operations.”
Curruchiche mentioned the raid was supposed to seek for any paperwork that may help the accusations. The prosecutor’s office didn’t say whether or not Paxton responded to the request.
Curruchiche and Pineda have been accused of making an attempt to undermine the nation’s democracy by taking part in a failed effort to forestall anti-corruption President Bernardo Arévalo from taking energy in addition to hindering the anti-corruption combat in the Central American nation. Those efforts have led to greater than 40 nations sanctioning them, together with the United States and the European Union.
The raid comes amid historic ranges of migration to the United States, during which Guatemala has been each a nation that folks migrate from and a transit route that they use on their approach north.
Save the Children, which is devoted to caring for children in disaster zones, has been working in Guatemala since 1976. It didn’t touch upon Thursday’s raid, however it issued a assertion final week indicating it was conscious of the allegations saying it has no proof the allegations are true.
“We take the allegations of children’s safety and misconduct very seriously and have independent investigative mechanisms in place to investigate thoroughly,” the charity’s assertion mentioned. “We have no evidence to validate such allegations and we continue to work hard to provide humanitarian assistance to migrant children and their families under strict safety and protection standards.”
