In a dramatic raid: 160 children and boys were rescued from a ‘Pure Heart’ attack in Guatemala

Police forces in Guatemala raided last night (Friday) a compound of the Pure Heart sect and rescued more than 160 children and boys and another 40 women.

According to the State Attorney’s Office in Guatemala, the suspicion is that the children were victims of human trafficking and abuse at the hands of the cult leaders.

According to a report in ‘Khan Haudas’, no arrests were made in the raid, but the regional prosecutor said that the authorities are considering filing charges, which would include human trafficking, forced pregnancy, abuse of minors and rape.

Last night’s raid – which included 480 police officers, soldiers, prosecutors and psychologists – was carried out following the testimony of four minors who are not Guatemalan citizens, who fled the community last month.

Other enforcement officials added that during the raid the police also found bodies of children buried in the ground, and the police are investigating whether they died as a result of abuse.

Nancy Lorena Paiz Garcia, a prosecutor at the Office against Human Trafficking in Guatemala, said that the police found bodies, suspected to be children and minors, buried in the area where the cult operates. “We have no information that the cult used the local cemeteries, but we must investigate these possible deaths of minors.”

The ‘Pure Heart’ community in Guatemala includes about 500 members who live in a closed and enclosed compound near the city of Oratorio, located 78 km southeast of the capital Guatemala City.

Since 2018, the police in Guatemala have been dealing with what is happening within the community, which is considered a cult, after receiving anonymous complaints related to its activities.

Ex-boyfriends and other runaway minors told prosecutors about forced pregnancies of girls, forced marriages, food shortages and a lack of health care — including cases where girls died along with their babies during childbirth.