• Guatemalan authorities rescued over 160 children and 40 women from the Jewish Lev Tahor sect for a whole host of abhorrent crimes. Investigations are ongoing.
• Lev Tahor, founded in Israel in 1988, has faced global scrutiny for extreme practices, including child marriage & abuse, prompting relocations to Mexico & Guatemala.
Guatemalan authorities have rescued over 160 children from the Jewish sect Lev Tahor amid serious allegations of abuse and human trafficking.
On Friday, police raided the sect’s premises in Oratorio, a city located 78 kilometers southeast of Guatemala City, following complaints of widespread child abuse, including rape, forced marriage, and trafficking, according to prosecutors. During the operation, at least 160 minors and 40 women were taken into protective custody.
The large-scale operation in the Santa Rosa region involved approximately 480 personnel, including police officers, soldiers, prosecutors, and psychologists. Investigators seized electronic devices and searched for evidence of child pornography. Regional prosecutor Dimas Jiménezy Jiménez stated that charges under consideration include human trafficking, child mistreatment, and sexual assault.
“We suspect these crimes were committed by a member of the community,” he said.
Nancy Lorena Paiz García, a prosecutor with the Office Against Human Trafficking, disclosed that bodies believed to belong to minors were discovered buried on the sect’s property. She added, “We have no information that the sect has used the local cemeteries, but we must investigate these possible deaths of minors.”
The raid followed an alert from four non-Guatemalan children who escaped the sect in November, bringing to light the abuses they had endured.
“Based on the statements of the complainants, the evidence obtained, and the medical examinations, it was possible to establish that there are forms of human trafficking against these minors, like forced marriages, abuse, and related crimes,” said Ms. García.
Lev Tahor, meaning “Pure Heart” in Hebrew, was founded in Israel in 1988 and follows an interpretation of Jewish law.
The group has faced international scrutiny for allegations including child marriage, sexual abuse, kidnapping, and physical violence.
Between 2014 and 2017, the sect relocated to Mexico and Guatemala after increasing legal pressures in other countries.
This raid in Oratorio follows a 2022 operation by Mexican authorities, during which children were rescued from a Lev Tahor camp near the Guatemalan border and sect members were detained on suspicion of abusing minors.
Prosecutors in Guatemala allege that children in the sect were systematically abused, with many subjected to forced marriages under the guise of religious doctrine. For now, the rescued children remain under government protection as investigations proceed into the group’s activities and potential human rights violations.
Guatemalan authorities have vowed to continue their efforts to uncover the full extent of the sect’s abuses.
