Guatemalan officials said Sunday that members of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish cult broke into a shelter attempting to recapture 160 minors taken from their compound two days earlier by authorities, who accuse the sect of sexually abusing children.
The farm compound in Oratoria, southwest of Guatemala City, was raided on Friday by authorities to rescue 160 minors who “were allegedly being abused by a member of the Lev Tahor sect,” said Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez. Authorities said 40 women were also removed from the compound.
About 100 of the children’s relatives who belong to the group gathered on Sunday outside a care center in Guatemala City where the children were being held to demand their return.
Members then “broke into” the center around 4:30 p.m. local time Sunday, “forcing open the gate and abducting the children and adolescents sheltered there,” a statement from the Attorney General’s Office said.
Those outside the shelter tried to prevent the authorities from bringing back the minors, leading to some scuffles with police, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
With police help, the center “managed to locate and protect everyone again,” the Attorney General’s Office said.
Guatemalan police members surround a minibus transferring rescued children from the Lev Tahor cult to the Alida Espana de Arana special education school in Guatemala City on December 22, 2024 (Johan ORDÓÑEZ / AFP)
The Secretariat of Social Welfare of the Presidency later clarified that some had “evaded” authorities and a search alert had been activated.
“We want them to let the children out of here,” Uriel Goldman, a representative of the families, told AFP outside the center before the attempted recapture of the minors.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Friday’s raid was carried out due to suspicion of human trafficking crimes “in the form of forced pregnancy, mistreatment of minors and rape.”
Members of the Lev Tahor Jewish group outside the Alida Espana de Arana special education school in Guatemala City on December 22, 2024. (Johan ORDÓÑEZ / AFP)
The skeleton of a minor was found during the raid, the Prosecutor’s Office alleged.
Members of Lev Tahor adhere to an extreme interpretation of Jewish law that largely shields its members from the outside world and places tight strictures on aspects of everyday life, such as their diet and dress.
Officials in Guatemala had previously tried to check the condition of the minors but were blocked from entering the farm by members of the community.
Members of the Lev Tahor Jewish cult outside the Alida Espana de Arana special education school where rescued children are being housed in Guatemala City on December 22, 2024. (Johan ORDÓÑEZ / AFP)
Officials estimate that the community is made up of roughly 50 families from Guatemala, the United States, Canada, Israel and other countries. The group has moved repeatedly across international borders due to issues with authorities, whom they accuse of religious persecution.
“The authorities… tell lies with false accusations,” Goldman said.
They settled in Oratoria about a decade ago after being expelled from an indigenous village in 2014 due to conflicts with locals.
This handout picture released by the Guatemalan Attorney General of the Nation’s Office (PGN) shows members of the PGN taking part in a child rescue operation at a Lev Tahor farm in the municipality of Oratorio, Guatemala, on December 20, 2024 (Handout / Guatemalan Attorney General of the Nation’s Office / AFP)
In 2022, Mexican authorities arrested a leader of the cult near the Guatemalan border and removed a number of women and children from the compound.
In 2021, two leaders of the group were convicted of kidnapping and child sexual exploitation crimes in New York. They allegedly kidnapped two children from their mother to return a 14-year-old girl to an illegal “sexual relationship” with an adult male.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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