We include a summary here of the recent problems faced by the organisation Casa Alianza in Honduras and Guatemala. Casa Alianza is a non-governmental organisation that defends and protects street children in several capital cities in Latin America, among them Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala. In both cases the organisation has centres which serve as places of refuge for the children and as medical and learning centres too. More background details about the two centres run by Casa Alianza can be found at the following websites:
In March 2024, the Casa Alianza centre in Guatemala City had to evacuate all its resident girls and staff when there was a leak of highly toxic, illegal agrochemicals next to their building. The alert came when girls and staff suddenly experienced symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, eye irritation, throat irritation and numbing of their tongues, among others.
At the time, there were 50 girls and eight babies (six toddlers and two newborns) who were affected. Two of the girls were pregnant, one of whom was only 12 years old, a survivor of abuse. Although two of the babies and a 15 year old girl were hospitalised, the rest spent the following nights in a facility run by the National Youth Council of Guatemala.
One month earlier in February 2024, in Tegucigalpa, a major fire erupted one block from the primary youth residence of Casa Alianza. Staff of the centre quickly moved all 70 children and youth into a church to pass the night. They evacuated with nothing but the clothes on their backs and slippers on their feet.
The following day, they spent the day in a park while the team of staff worked to arrange temporary housing at a nearby retreat, where they remained until it was safe to return to the Casa Alianza Centre.
Sources:
- Compass Children’s Charity, 17 March 2024, ‘Urgent Appeal – La Alianza, Guatemala: Emergency Evacuation’
- Alicia Caraballo, Linkedin Post, 11 February 2024.
- Also refer to the websites listed above.