Guatemalan authorities have launched an investigation into allegations of child abuse, sexual violence and forced marriages within the extremist Jewish sect Lev Tahor, based on a property near the capital, the prosecutor's office announced on Wednesday.
A judge attempted to enter the property in Oratorio, located 60 kilometers southwest of Guatemala City, last Friday but was obstructed by members of the sect from conducting a thorough investigation, according to Lucrecia Prera, head of child protection at the Guatemalan Attorney General's Office.
"We are deeply concerned about the situation inside the community," Prera said. She noted that reports have surfaced alleging forced marriages, pregnant young girls and other forms of mistreatment within the sect.
Lev Tahor, which means "Pure Heart" in Hebrew, was founded in the 1980s and practices an ultra-Orthodox form of Judaism, where women are required to wear black robes that cover them from head to toe. The group settled in Oratorio in 2016, following police and prosecutor raids on several of its properties in Guatemala, where it first arrived in 2013. At the time, authorities acted at the request of Israel, whose police were searching for a missing minor.
The current investigation was initiated after an "SOS" was sent earlier this year by a foreign teenager, who requested to return to his home country, claiming he was forced into marriage at the age of 13, Prera said.
The prosecutor's office estimates that around 50 families of various nationalities are part of the community, which includes about 100 minors. Last Friday, the judge counted 29 children but was prevented by the sect from questioning them or assessing their health.
In response, Lev Tahor accused the prosecutor's office on social media platform X of "conducting a campaign of persecution against our community, motivated solely by religious intolerance and discrimination," with the involvement of the Israeli government.