Guatemalan police raided five regional offices of British aid agency Save the Children on Monday as part of an investigation into allegations of child abuse.
According to local media, prosecutors requested information from US authorities in April about the organization’s alleged involvement in smuggling children across the border.
Save the Children said it was “aware of the activity” at its office and denied prosecutors’ allegations.
The prosecutor in charge of the case, Rafael Curruchiche, and the country’s attorney general, Consuelo Porras, have previously been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union for attacking democracy.
Curruchiche said searches were being carried out in different parts of the country as part of a “transnational investigation of great importance”. video statement about X.
The prosecutor did not name the organization in his statement – but a spokesman for his office confirmed to AFP news agency that the offices searched were those of Save the Children.
In a statement to the BBC, Save the Children said it was cooperating with authorities but had “never facilitated any movement of children or young people out of Guatemala”.
“Following previous allegations made against our organization this year, no evidence of wrongdoing has been found,” the organization added.
Earlier this year, the aid group said it was “shocked and confused” after its main office was raided in the same case.
This comes just days after the Secretary General of the Guatemalan Public Ministry, Ángel Pineda, wrote to Texas authorities requesting assistance in investigating allegations that aid groups, including Save the Children, “could participate in child trafficking activities”.
It’s unclear whether Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will respond to the request.
Both Pineda and Curruchiche have previously been sanctioned by the US and European Union for allegedly trying to undermine the country’s democracy. Local media reported that the prosecutor’s office denied the charges.
The prosecutor’s office also reportedly tried to prevent President Bernardo Arévalo, who has delivered an anti-corruption message and criticized the country’s judiciary, from taking office earlier this year.
Guatemala’s Attorney General, Consuelo Porras, has Banned from entering the US in 2022 after the State Department said she had “repeatedly obstructed and undermined anti-corruption investigations in Guatemala”. Porras denies the claim.
Save the Children has been working in Guatemala since 1976, after an earthquake devastated the country.
They added that they “will continue to work to uphold children’s rights, as we have always done, maintaining the highest standards of child protection and safeguarding in all of our programmes” .
