(ANS - San Benito Petén) - A recent report published in the New York Times highlighted cases of pregnant girls in San Benito Petén. These girls married much older men before they reached the age of fourteen, the legal age for marriage with parental consent.

In the article, taken from the Guatemalan newspaper "Siglo 21", the journalist Stephanie Sinclair tells the stories of teenagers who are married and who have become mothers in poor conditions. Ms Sinclair visited several villages in the area to report on a project called "Too Young to Wed", which is organized with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

In Guatemala, 53% of women aged 20-24 years were married before the age of eighteen and 13% before fifteen, according to the Council of the Population.

"Many of these children face serious situations similar to those of child brides in other nations in the developing world. They have left their studies, and are subject to physical and sexual violence. They risk pregnancy without medical care, and in many respects are controlled by older men who treat them as sex slaves and domestic servants," the report says.

According to the Alliance for International Health, Peten has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country, with 172 deaths per 100,000 births. Infant mortality is also high, with 40 deaths per 1,000 births. According to UN data, 26% of births in Guatemala are to mothers aged between ten and nineteen.

UNFPA estimates that in 2015 more than 550,000 Guatemalan girls will marry before the age of eighteen - 1,500 child brides per day.

"When I visited the hospital, there were four children in the Neo-natal intensive CARE Unit, all born to fourteen year-old mothers," wrote Ms Sinclair. "We are asking small miracles of these children, since it is a miracle that they are alive," says Doctor Daniel Alvarez, paediatrician at the National Hospital of San Benito.

The report also states that girls are often abandoned by their husbands, as happened to Aracely: "During pregnancy he gave me no money. He did not even come to see the baby."

"I was in fifth year in school when I got married," reports Carmen, aged fourteen.

"My family were unhappy when I got married. They said I was too young and that taking care of a child was a big responsibility," says Sulmi.

Published 24/02/2015