Guatemala takes 160 minors from Lev Tahor cult into protective custody amid abuse claims
40 women also removed from group’s farm; suspected bones of child found; prosecutors say group raided over suspicions of ‘forced pregnancy, mistreatment of minors and rape’
Guatemalan authorities said they rescued 160 minors and 40 women on Friday from a farm used by the extremist ultra-Orthodox Lev Tahor cult amid an investigation into alleged child sex abuse.
Guatemala’s Attorney General’s Office said in a statement on the social platform X that suspected bones of one child were found.
Public prosecutor Dimas Jimenez told a press conference that the raid was carried out due to suspicions of “forced pregnancy, mistreatment of minors and rape.”
The minors “were allegedly being abused by a member of the Lev Tahor sect,” Jimenez wrote on social media after the raid in Oratorio, southwest of Guatemala City.
The operation involved dozens of police officers as well as psychologists and social workers.
“Zero tolerance for child abuse!” said Jimenez, adding that the raid had the support of the US Department of Homeland Security.
Lev Tahor is a secretive Jewish group and little is known about its inner workings. The group adheres 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 had previously tried to check the condition of the minors but were blocked from entering the farm by members of the community.
Lev Tahor has accused authorities of religious persecution.
Authorities estimate that the community is made up of roughly 50 families from Guatemala, the United States, Canada, Israel and other countries.
The cult has run into legal problems in various countries.
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.
