CV NEWS FEED // Guatemalan authorities raided the local offices of international aid group Save the Children on April 25, claiming to investigate alleged abuses against migrant children.
Le Monde reported that state prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche said the raid was the result of “a transnational investigation of great significance since it concerns actions that could be related to violations and abuses against Guatemalan children.”
Save the Children reportedly stated that it was “shocked and puzzled by the unprecedented search of our offices by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Guatemala,” according to AP News.
Le Monde reported another statement from Save the Children, which denied moving children out of Guatemala or abusing them.
“We are aware of the claims regarding the wellbeing of migrant children,” Save the Children stated, according to Le Monde. “We take all child safeguarding and misconduct allegations extremely seriously and have independent investigative mechanisms in place to investigate them thoroughly.”
Save the Children continued:
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.
AP News reported that Curruchiche and several other Guatemalan authorities have been listed by the U.S. Justice Department as corrupt and trying to undermine the country’s democracy.
Both Curruchiche and the secretary general of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Angel Pineda, are sanctioned and banned from entering over 40 countries, including the U.S. and European Union.
The post Guatemalan authorities raid offices of aid group Save the Children, citing child abuse investigation appeared first on CatholicVote org.