Medellin, Colombia — The United Nations has called for an “independent investigation” into the alleged involvement of current Justice Minister Maria Consuelo Porras in the illegal adoption of children in Guatemala during the country’s civil war (1960-1996).
UN experts announced on Monday that they had received information about alleged illegal international adoptions of at least 80 indigenous children who spent time at Hogar Temporal Elisa Martínez “after their capture and enforced disappearance between 1968 and 1996.”
According to the United Nations, Porras was the director and legal guardian of a closed foster home for six months starting in 1982.
Guatemala’s prosecutor’s office denied the charges, saying they undermined Porras’ “dignity, reputation and presumption of innocence.”
“It is particularly concerning that there was no prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into allegations that some national authorities intervened in this process, and that mothers harmed by illegal adoptions did not receive adequate recognition or compensation,” the UN said in a statement.
Who is Consuelo Porras?
Porras, who first took up the job as justice minister in 2018, was controversially appointed to a second term in 2022 by then-President Alejandro Giammattei. Porras has been accused of corruption by the U.S. government, and Washington has banned 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 organization fighting corruption in Guatemala.
Read more: Say goodbye to Guatemala’s Anti-Corruption Commission
During the reign of current President Bernardo Arévalo, Porras has been criticized by human rights groups for “politically motivated” prosecutions of members of the government in an attempt to undermine his presidency. In 2024, Arévalo submitted a bill to Congress to remove her from her position, but it ultimately failed.
In July 2024, Arévalo made his first public apology for the historic illegal adoption of two brothers who were adopted by two families in the United States after the state revoked custody of their biological families in 1998.
Arévalo said Guatemala was committed to “overcoming bad practices, bad policies, impunity, indifference and negligence that prevent the state and its institutions from protecting families.”
Featured Image: Consuelo Porras, 2018
Image credit: Carlos Sebastian via Wikimedia Commons. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
