An International Child Trafficking Network; Guatemala

Indigenous Guatemalan Woman Washing Clothes with her Baby

In the heart of Guatemala, a harrowing tale of cruelty and injustice unfolds, revealing the depths of human rights violations, especially within indigenous communities. Here, a powerful international child trafficking network thrives, composed of professionals, government officials, child kidnappers, and prostitutes. This nefarious network exploits a legal void that fails to classify the buying and selling of children as a crime, effectively turning Guatemala's capital into an immense marketplace, where the price of a child can soar to a chilling $20,000.

The origins of this sinister web are found right at the border between Mexico and Guatemala, where traffickers have cunningly established clandestine routes through remote wilderness areas, free from any form of surveillance, as confirmed by immigration authorities in Guatemala.

Carmela Curup, the Attorney for Minors at the Guatemalan Attorney General's Office, expresses her reservations about labeling it an "international trafficking network," cautioning that they haven't yet proven the abduction of children by foreigners. She contends that everything happening, albeit dubiously, is within the bounds of the law. However, she voices deep concern about the growing number of individuals involved in abducting children for the lure of a few quetzales.

An investigation by La Jornada unraveled the story of Flor de María Soto Hernández, a one-and-a-half-year-old child stolen from Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, with intentions of being handed over to a Canadian couple. DNA tests conducted by the Canadian embassy in Guatemala unveiled the deception, as the child had no genetic relation to the supposed mother.

This was not an isolated case; Guatemalan judicial authorities were aware of at least 20 similar incidents, referred to as "child abduction" or "adoption prostitution." Father Ademar Barilli, director of the Casa del Migrante in the border region of Tecún Umán, attests to the audacity and organizational prowess of this trafficking network, sharing that they have received pleas from families seeking help to recover their stolen children.

Shocking revelations emerge about a group of 80 lawyers and notaries, as disclosed by Attorney for Minors Carmela Curup, who dedicate their efforts to acquiring, caring for, promoting, and even falsifying the identities of the minors marked for sale.

In this dark narrative, Guatemala takes on a chilling role as a sheltered hub, facilitated in part by individuals like Susana Zaracho de Umaña, director of the Association Los Niños de Guatemala and the wife of the Supreme Court President, Ricardo Umaña. She processes an astonishing average of 10 "legal" adoptions every month, reaping profits of $150,000 every 30 days.

Allegations surface that Susana de Umaña leverages her connections to advance this nefarious enterprise, capitalizing on her husband's position.

Disturbingly, it's not just her; confidential government sources, fearing for their lives if their names are revealed, claim that the list of implicated officials extends to figures like the former Guatemalan Ambassador to the United States, Edmond Mulet, and Juan José Rodil Peralta, the ex-president of the Supreme Court.

In this heart-wrenching scenario, prospective adoptive parents can even request "customized" children, specifying physical attributes such as hair color, eye color, and skin tone. In Guatemala, this network has successfully positioned itself as a center for identity exchange, where children are stolen, bought, and exported to the United States, Canada, and Europe under the guise of "seemingly legal" adoptions.

The Hierarchical Structure of an International Child Trafficking Network

Lawyers and Notaries: These individuals pay operatives in the lower echelons of the network to steal and buy children. They also collaborate with international adoption agencies to offer children and carry out "legal" adoption procedures to facilitate the children's exit from the country. They profit between $8,000 and $20,000 per child.

Adoption Agencies: Operating from the adoptive parents' home country, these agencies engage local lawyers and notaries. Through substantial payments, they expedite the arrival of the child, even when adoption procedures remain incomplete.

Intermediaries: Women involved in purchasing, stealing, and operating houses with pregnant women willing to sell their children upon birth. They earn between $1,600 and $2,500. These women are often owners or directors of local orphanages or daycare facilities. They are a crucial part of the communication between prospective adoptive parents and the child traffickers.

Caretakers: These are young girls from local villages who are responsible for looking after the child during the adoption process, earning $15 per month. They are loving, kind, and provide safety & comfort to the children in their care. This job is safer & more reliable than sex work.

Supposed Mothers: Women who impersonate the child's biological mother for a fee, earning $33 to $50. They will be a part of the child's life long enough to sign a forged birth certificate or pretend to be their mother in order to get the child declared "abandoned."

Biological Mothers: Often indigenous women & young girls that are preyed upon to be raped, have their children stolen, or be sold for $33 to $55 USD.

Prostitutes: Primarily Salvadoran and Nicaraguan women who effectively turn their bodies into "baby factories." They earn between $50 and $160 for each pregnancy.

Midwives: Women who accept payment for issuing a birth notice, earning $33 to $50 per pregnancy. There are multiple accounts of midwives being the ones to steal the child or take the child under false pretenses.

Once intermediaries obtain a child, either through purchase or theft, they set out to find a "mother substitute." The intermediary also procures a birth notice from a midwife, a document used to obtain a legal birth certificate. With this "legal" document in hand, the child can be legally put up for adoption. According to the testimony of members of the network, the intermediary is also responsible for purchasing a notice of birth to a midwife who agree to extend the "boleta" in the name of the alleged mother.

The boleta is valid before the Civil Registry is made by the intermediary to obtain a birth certificate. From there, the broker has the "legal document" that the child in turn will be the subject of adoption. A substitute mother, child, and their legal documents are then transported to Guatemala City. In the office of a notary, the substitute mother must sign her consent for the child's adoption, a step that provides legal cover through the guardianship certificate. During this process, the child remains in the care of a caregiver.

After completing all necessary procedures, the child is ready to leave the country.

Staggering statistics from Guatemala's Human Rights Ombudsman's Office reveal that out of 3,000 children adopted in Guatemala annually, a staggering 2,850 are sent abroad. In 1996 alone, 560 "Guatemalan" children were adopted in the United States.

Testimonies--El Carmen, Guatemala, a Pasitos, Tapachula, Mexico

A delegate for immigration in El Carmen, Raul Orozco confirms the existence of a specific route used by individuals involved in child trafficking. These traffickers use various paths through the region, including the river, hills, and mountains, to transport children. Orozco explains that these cases of child trafficking are not isolated incidents but are prevalent throughout the frontier, and traffickers often pass through this area on their way to Guatemala.

He highlights a significant challenge: when these traffickers cross the border, they present their passports and claim they are transiting through Guatemala, which makes it difficult for authorities to investigate further or determine if they are transporting children illegally. Orozco emphasizes the limitations of their authority in such cases, as they cannot effectively investigate or prevent the illegal transportation of children in these situations.

He adds that the Guatemalan border in El Carmen has a jurisdiction of only 100 meters around.

Speaking about some of the cases it has dealt with immigration officer he said "I met a couple who claimed that the boy was their son and I detected that it was not true. The child was totally different from the parents. At the time of investigation, the documents were false. "Today in Guatemala we are struggling to incorporate a law to penalize the trafficking of minors." Due to the extensive amount of high ranking political figures that are involved in these illegal activities, the initiative quickly died.

The Business Continues

At a local hotel a part of the child trafficking network, the following scenes unfold--

A prospective couple cannot wait in the waiting room, their eyes just go to the door of the reception. A woman appears, carrying a lump in her lap.

The couple jump, run towards it, untangle the rebozo, leaving a small head, the image remains: brown arms fall to the white arms.

It's a girl who is three months old, born on June 15 and is now for sale; called Pamela Sam, but the potential buyers renamed her.

The Hotel La Casa Grande, located at Avenida Reforma 7-67 in Zone 10, is home to all those buyers of infants, children up to one year and more.

"Hi baby! Oh my baby! My little girl!" the couple who came from Oklahoma said to the baby. The woman who brought the child is looking for a translator. "She needs to give some instructions before leaving." The couple has the right to spend seven hours with Pamela, however, the hotel invites the couples to keep babies overnight under the condition not to leave La Casa Grande.

The other instructions or guidelines were for Pamela to live with five children of the caregiver. The caregiver works for a law firm and says they cannot house any more children without being accused of running clandestine nurseries/daycares. An unusual statement by the woman to the potential buyers was that Pamela spent the night with a fever and flu. At home there was an outbreak of infection, and their five children were sick too.

The next day at 7pm they said their goodbyes--The fate of Pamela is still unclear, but it is unfortunately not the only case in the hotel nursery.

Through the corridors of La Casa Grande you can breathe the smell of diapers, the doors of the rooms half open allow you to see a crib for each bed.

Here, a child who can barely walk is led by a hand that does not correspond to his color, nor his language, nor his life.

There are no couples here who do not drive a stroller, carry a blanket, and who prepare baby bottles.

The daily rhythm begins at six in the morning when the 28 rooms of the hotel are empty because the couples are concentrated in the cafeteria, a fantasy setting where vines hang like strings from the walls, and dishes are served in pink tablecloths. It's time for the first bottle. From then on everything is lulling newborns and older children, teaching them to walk along the corridors where, as they advance, the moan of a little one is buried.

Another buyer named Ety Hai is happy--She already bought her daughter.

Tomorrow she will return with her new daughter to her home in Jerusalem. It is the second time that she has come to Guatemala for a minor.

It took 18 hours of flight, $1,400 dollars for the plane ticket plus the adoption procedures, of which the price is not revealed. The acquired baby had the name of Catherine, but from this moment on she is called Tamar and will live in Jerusalem, Palestine.

Never before has the enigma of pink been so intricately woven into the fabric of these furnishings — curtains, sheets, and furniture alike to create a comfortable fantasy.

As the dawn breaks, a silent procession of couples begins to arrive, each carrying with them their own concealed ambitions, soon to be unveiled within the confines of the pink waiting room.