Machismo, homophobia, and attacks on the right to abortion, among other filth spread and promoted by the government, are instruments used by the regime to discipline and brutalize the masses and reinforce capitalist oppression and exploitation.
On Tuesday, women who were subjected to trafficking and servitude by Opus Dei gave their testimonies at the first International ECA Global (Ending Clergy Abuse) Summit, a global organization of human rights activists and survivors fighting against clerical abuse.
The summit gathered testimonies from victims in Argentina, Chile, Spain, Guatemala, Ireland, Mexico, and Paraguay. In 2021, 43 women denounced their condition as slaves of Opus Dei in Argentina, in centers such as the Institute for Comprehensive Training in Domestic Studies (Icied). The recruits lured the victims by taking advantage of their vulnerable situation, promising them a home, schooling, and access to a job.
One of them arrived in the country at the age of 16 from Paraguay with the goal of studying. 'A friend came to visit me, and I realized that she was free. I realized I was a prisoner,' said Visitación Villa Mayor, a former numerary auxiliary of Opus Dei.
Working from dawn till night without breaks under an ultra-oppressive and controlling regime, they worked for free for decades as domestic employees to satisfy the demands of the male members of the institution. Some auxiliaries even attempted suicide.
In case they expressed a desire to leave or had doubts about their 'vocation,' they were taken to a psychiatrist and medicated.
The judicial investigation into these facts began in 2022, and in July of this year, the Argentine Prosecutor's Office accused the priest Mario Fazio, the second-in-command of Opus Dei, of 'human trafficking under the modality of servitude' in a case that is being handled in Federal Court No. 3 of the City of Buenos Aires.
This case, which has gained international relevance, shows as never before the barbaric nature of the Catholic institution, which once cultivated strong ties with the Francoist regime in Spain, and with which the Milei government, almost a century later and like many other capitalist politicians, is strengthening ties.
The government gave Conin, an Opus Dei supernumerary organization led by Abel Albino, the task of distributing food in popular neighborhoods as a way to strike at picketer and social organizations. One of Milei's 'ultra-conservative ideologues,' Agustín Laje, obtained his Master's degree in Philosophy at the University of Navarra, linked to Opus Dei.
The president placed as a Supreme Court judge Manuel García Mansilla, educated at the Austral University—linked to Opus Dei; he is a staunch opponent of legal abortion and also a lobbyist for capitalist oil businesses. As Attorney General of the Treasury is Santiago Castro Videla, a graduate of the same house of studies and with ties to one of the lawyers chosen by the vulture fund Burford to litigate against Argentina in the YPF nationalization case.
Ursula Basset, who was at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was close to Karina Milei, and now forms part of the Ministry of Justice led by the narco-lawyer Cúneo Libarona, is also linked to Opus Dei. Paula Bistagnino, author of the book 'Te Serviré' (I Will Serve You), pointed out that 'there are testimonies from more than 70 countries and that there are thousands of accounts that describe exactly the same functioning.'
The government relies on these sectors to push its reactionary agenda of attacks against the workers.
