Guatemala prosecutors raid Save the Children over alleged abuse

GUATEMALA

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.

The operation followed local media reports that prosecutors in the Central American country had asked the Texas attorney general's office for help investigating alleged trafficking of Guatemalan children on the southern U.S. border.

The raid was part of a "transnational" probe of "actions that could be related to violations and abuses against Guatemalan children," state prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche said in a video published on social media.

Save the Children confirmed that officials had entered its offices in Guatemala City.

"We have been shocked and perplexed by the unprecedented search of our offices by the Guatemalan Public Ministry," it said in a statement Thursday.

"No specific allegations were made known to us, and there is no evidence to support allegations of misconduct.

"We have protected children from any abuse of their rights. We do not — and we have never — facilitated the movement of children out of Guatemala," Save the Children added.

Guatemalan authorities had sought assistance from prosecutors in Texas, Curruchiche confirmed, adding that the raid involved the "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 U.S. Justice Department and has been accused of plotting to oust President Bernardo Arevalo, who wants to fire him.

  'No evidence' 

AFP reporters at the scene saw prosecutors 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 take all child safeguarding and misconduct allegations extremely seriously and have independent investigative mechanisms in place to investigate them thoroughly," the statement said.

"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 added.

Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre had reported that 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."