For decades, members of Opus Dei, a powerful Catholic organization with a global presence, allegedly trafficked dozens of girls in Argentina into domestic servitude. Survivors were recruited with promises of education and training, then forced into unpaid 12-hour workdays under strict control.

Survivors describe lives of control and unpaid labor

Claudia Carrero was just 13 years old in 1979 when Opus Dei took her to one of its schools, promising training in hotel management. Instead, the organization put her to work. She said:

They did not take me there to study, but to work, … I had no control over anything in my life. I had to ask for permission to call my parents, all our mail was read, we were not allowed to go out alone.

Carrero’s experience reflects those of 42 other women in Argentina. Opus Dei recruited them as minors from poor, rural families and forced them to work long days of domestic labor for elite male members.

The women’s testimonies also describe extreme control, from discouraged family visits to restrictions on what they were allowed to read. Many say they escaped with no money, no clothes, and no qualifications.

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