Medellín, Colombia — The United Nations has called for “independent investigations” into illegal adoptions of children in Guatemala during the country’s civil war (1960 to 1996) and the alleged involvement of the country’s current attorney general, María Consuelo Porras.
UN “experts” announced on Monday that they received information regarding the alleged illegal international adoptions of at least 80 Indigenous children who had spent time at the Hogar Temporal Elisa Martínez (Elisa Martínez Temporary Home) “following their capture and enforced disappearance between 1968 and 1996.”
According to the UN, Porras was director and legal guardian of the since-closed foster home for six months in 1982.
Guatemala’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has denied the allegations, claiming they damage Porras’ “dignity, reputation, and presumption of innocence.”
The UN said in the statement: “We are particularly troubled that no prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation has been conducted into the alleged involvement of some State authorities in these processes and that mothers affected by these illegal adoptions have reportedly not received adequate recognition or reparations.”
Who is Consuelo Porras?
Porras, who first assumed the role of Attorney General in 2018, was appointed to a controversial second term by then-President Alejandro Giammattei in 2022. She was accused of corruption by the US government and Washington barred her from entering the country.
Under Giammattei, Porras played a key role in shutting down the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), an international body that fought corruption in the country.
Read more: Farewell to Guatemala’s anti-corruption commission
During the administration of current President Bernardo Arévalo, Porras has been accused by rights groups of “politically motivated” prosecutions against members of his government in an attempt to undermine his presidency. In 2024, Arévalo presented a bill in Congress to remove her from her post, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
In July 2024, Arévalo issued the first public apology regarding historic illegal adoptions to two brothers who were adopted by two different US families after the state withdrew custody from their birth family in 1998.
Arévalo stated that Guatemala was committed to “overcoming the bad practices, bad policies, impunity, indifference and negligence that have allowed the State and its institutions to fail to protect families”.
Featured image: Consuelo Porras in 2018
Image credit: Carlos Sebastian via Wikimedia Commons. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
