Tag: argentina

‘I became like a slave’: why 43 women are suing the secretive Opus Dei Catholic group in Argentina

The first item Opus Dei gave 12-year-old Andrea Martínez was a pink dress. The second was a schedule that detailed every task for every minute of her day. Then, when she was 16, she was given a cilice – a spiked metal chain to wear around her thigh – and a whip.

In the late 1980s, Opus Dei, a secretive and ultra-conservative Catholic organisation, promised Martínez an escape from a life of poverty in rural Argentina. By attending one of their schools, they said, she would receive an education and opportunities.

“They told me I would study and progress. I thought with an education that later I would be able to help my family,” says Martínez, 50.

“But I became like a slave. They treated me like a slave, without any capacity to think or act or do.”

Martínez, along with dozens of other women in Argentina, has accused Opus Dei – which has a presence in more than 70 countries but is strongest in Spain, Italy and Latin America – of coercing them as children and adolescents into a life of domestic servitude.

They say they were forced into working up to 12-hour days, cooking and cleaning for the elite members, without pay.

The women also say they faced extreme control, their letters were censored, and they were banned from reading anything but children’s books or religious texts. When they eventually escaped, the women say they were left without money, clothes or qualifications.

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Javier Milei’s Free Market Reforms Are Starting To Pay Off

Argentina’s poverty rate fell sharply in the second half of 2024, according to official data released this week, marking a major milestone for President Javier Milei’s sweeping economic reforms.

According to the country’s official statistics agency, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC), the poverty rate fell to 38.1 percent between July 2024 and December 2024—down nearly 15 percentage points from the first half of the year. Household poverty also declined by 13.9 percentage points, hitting 28.6 percent. And extreme poverty was cut by more than half, falling from 18.1 percent to 8.2 percent.

It’s a major turnaround from the beginning of Milei’s presidency. When he took office in December 2023, he inherited a poverty rate of 41.7 percent, which quickly surged to 53 percent as his administration launched a “shock therapy” program to end Argentina’s economic misery.

One of the biggest drivers behind the poverty decline is the sharp drop in inflation. Annual inflation, which reached 276.2 percent a year ago—one of the highest in the world—dropped to 66.9 percent last month. Monthly inflation has also dropped, from 25.5 percent in December to just 2.4 percent in March.

“These figures reflect the failure of past policies, which plunged millions of Argentines into precarious conditions while promoting the idea of helping the poor, even as poverty continued to increase,” Milei’s office said in a statement following the release of the INDEC report. “The current administration has shown that the path of economic freedom and fiscal responsibility is the way to reduce poverty in the long term.”

In other words, Milei’s bet on free market reforms is starting to pay off. 

It’s worth remembering the situation he walked into. “Milei inherited a country suffering from more than 200% inflation in 2023, 40% poverty, a fiscal and quasi-fiscal deficit of 15% of GDP, a huge and growing public debt, a bankrupt central bank, and a shrinking economy,” writes Ian Vásquez of the Cato Institute.

In response, Milei promised a radical shift in Argentina’s economic model. His government slashed government spending, eliminated price controls, devalued the peso, cut subsidies, suspended public works, and laid off thousands of government workers. The changes weren’t popular, but they were necessary. And now, the numbers are catching up.

The economy is growing again. Gross domestic product grew in the last two quarters. The gap between the black-market dollar and the official rate has narrowed. Rents have fallen and the housing supply has increased since rent control laws were scrapped. Meanwhile, investor interest in Argentina is beginning to return, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is in talks with Milei’s government over a new program. The IMF projects a 5 percent growth for Argentina in 2025. 

Still, challenges remain. Despite the improvement, over 11 million Argentines are still living in poverty, with 2.5 million facing extreme poverty. And more than half of all children ages 14 and under in Argentina are poor. 

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Argentina to Declassify Nazi Archives—But Did Hitler Escape There Too?

In a move both hailed and questioned, Argentine President Javier Milei has ordered the full declassification of secret government files related to Nazis who fled to Argentina after World War II—along with archives from the country’s own military dictatorship.

The promise of disclosure follows a broader global trend toward transparency, including the U.S. government’s recent release of long-classified files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy—documents that, for decades, were withheld from the public under claims of national security.

But with reports of 5,000 Nazis escaping to South America—including top convicted war criminals like Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele—some are asking a more explosive question: did Hitler himself survive the war and escape to Argentina?

Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos confirmed that Milei’s order, made after a meeting with U.S. Senator Steve Daines, applies to all Nazi-related documents across state agencies, including Defense Ministry files and financial records long shrouded in secrecy.

“President Milei has ordered the publication and declassification of the archives,” Francos said. “These files concern Nazis who sought refuge in Argentina and were protected for many years. These are historical documents that should be accessible to the public.”

“There is no reason to continue safeguarding that information,” he added. “These are archives of a part of Argentine history and they have to be public.”

The move also revives a long-held claim—dismissed by mainstream historians but not by everyone—that Adolf Hitler didn’t die in Berlin in 1945, but instead fled via Spain and ended up living out his days under protection in South America.

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Argentina’s Milei faces impeachment for promoting crypto scam

The Argentinean president branded himself as an edgy economic genius to ride a wave of financial discontent to power. Now he’s implicated in one of the biggest scams in history, wiping out over $4 billion in a few hours, leaving Argentineans wondering if they’ve also been rugged.

Argentina’s President Javier Milei has been accused of fraud, and is likely to face impeachment charges, after he promoted a sham cryptocurrency token which allowed a handful of con artists to dupe crypto owners out of hundreds of millions of dollars in a single day. The scam is believed to be the first cryptocurrency “rug-pull” to have been orchestrated with the help of a sitting president. While the exact number of victims is unknown, around 75,000 people are suspected to have been swindled, and a judge has been appointed to investigate after at least 100 criminal complaints were filed against Milei in Argentina in the days since.

Crypto token $LIBRA jumped massively in value after Milei endorsed it on social media on Feb. 14, posting a link to purchase the coin and lauding the “private project” for “encouraging the growth of the Argentine economy, funding small business and Argentine ventures.” Milei went as far as framing the coin as a legitimate investment, writing, “the world wants to invest in Argentina.”

The URL for the $LIBRA token’s official website, vivalalibertadproject.com, was a clear nod to Milei’s campaign slogan, “¡Viva la libertad, carajo!” The page, which remains online, says the coin was being launched “in honor of Javier Milei’s libertarian ideas” and was “designed to strengthen the Argentine economy from the ground up by supporting entrepreneurship and innovation.”

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Missing millionaire crypto influencer found dismembered in suitcase

Police have launched a murder investigation after the dismembered remains of missing millionaire Fernando Pérez Algaba, 41, were discovered by a group of children in Argentina over the weekend.

The grisly case came to light after the kids found a red suitcase filled with body parts while playing by a stream in the town of Ingeniero Budge, Buenos Aires Province, on Sunday, Jam Press reported.

The children’s parents notified the Buenos Aires police, who inspected the package and reportedly found the victim’s legs and forearm inside, discovering another whole arm in the stream.

On Wednesday, authorities discovered the missing head and torso, El País reported.

The body parts were cleanly amputated, suggesting the work of a professional, local media reported.

Meanwhile, a subsequent autopsy revealed that the victim had been shot three times before the dismemberment.

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Man Tries to Assassinate Argentina Vice President Cristina Kirchner

A man was arrested after a failed assassination attempt on the vice president of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, on Thursday.

Videos posted to social media sites show a crowd outside Kirchner’s home in Recoleta, downtown Buenos Aires, then a man suddenly pointed a gun at the vice president at point blank range.

The assailant fired his gun at the vice president but failed. The vice president left the place unharmed.

“A man pointed a firearm at her head and pulled the trigger,” President Alberto Fernández said during a national broadcast. He said the gun didn’t fire.

After the attack, the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, criticized the attack and asked for a fast investigation to conclude the case. He declared a national holiday on Friday for “peace and harmony to our people so that they can defend life”.

A Brazilian man named Fernando Sabag Montiel, 35, has been charged with attempted murder.

He was arrested by police officers from Kirchner’s security team shortly after the incident. In the attempt against the vice-president, the Brazilian was using a Bersa 380 pistol with five ammunitions.

Since the Argentinean Public Ministry asked for Kirchner’s condemnation, supporters of the vice-president usually gather in front of her house to lend their support. She is accused of corruption and influence peddling during the term of her ex-husband, former President Nestor Kirchner.

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Giant Trove Of Hidden Nazi Artifacts Found In Argentina

The largest collection of Nazi objects in Argentina’s history was discovered outside of Buenos Aires this month.

Around 75 artifacts — including some that were likely used by Hitler himself — were found in a hidden room inside a collector’s home.

Among the disturbing items were magnifying glasses engraved with swastikas, a bust of Hitler, a box of harmonicas, and a scary-looking medical device used to measure heads (an ethnocentric technique used by Nazis to distinguish “Aryans” from Jews).

Authorities suspect that many of the pieces belonged to high-ranking Nazi officials. This theory is supported by photographs found with the collection — one of which shows Hitler using a magnifying glass like the ones confiscated.

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