UN experts on Monday called for an investigation into Guatemala’s Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras for possible involvement in illegal adoptions of Indigenous children during the country’s civil war in the 1980s.
The allegation was made in a statement released in Geneva on Monday, the same day that Porras, whose term as attorney general ends in May, failed in her bid to be elected to Guatemala’s Constitutional Court.
The UN experts said they had received information about “at least 80 Indigenous children who were subjected to illegal international adoptions” following “their capture and forced disappearance between 1968 and 1996.”
The group noted that the minors were put up for adoption after being taken to the Elisa Martinez Temporary Home, where Porras served as director and also acted as “legal guardian of the children from 21 January to 30 August 1982,” according to the statement.
AFP requested comment from the Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office regarding the allegations against Porras but did not receive an immediate response.
The experts called for independent investigations into the claims that public officials, including Porras, were involved in the adoptions.
The group criticised Porras’s candidacy for the Constitutional Court — Guatemala’s highest judicial body — and urged those responsible for electing the magistrates to exercise “caution in light of these serious allegations.”
The 72-year-old prosecutor has previously been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union for corruption.
Porras has twice challenged President Bernardo Arévalo’s authority, launching an investigation into his Semilla party before his inauguration in January 2024.
The attorney general has also been accused by the government and NGOs of protecting criminals, allegations she denies.
