Rosa Torino, the Argentine priest identified as a ‘narco’ and rapist

He told them that he had to check their bodies as a father would check his children, to see if they had any disease. He fondled them. He manipulated them by warning them that he was God’s representative on Earth. He humiliated them. He subdued them. This is how an ex-nun and two ex-novices have described the abuses they suffered by the Argentine priest Agustín Rosa Torino, who was finally brought before a court that began to judge him for three cases of sexual abuse aggravated by being a minister of worship.

In total, there will be eight hearings that will culminate on July 8 with a verdict that will set precedents, since this is the first trial for ecclesiastical abuses that occurred in Salta, a province in northern Argentina known for its conservatism and where the accused founded the Instituto Hermanos Discípulos de Jesús de San Juan Baptista   (Institute Brothers Disciples of Jesus of Saint John the Baptist), in which priests were formed.

The Institute was closed in 2019 by order of the Vatican. At that time, four years had passed since the first complaints and Rosa Torino, who had been arrested in 2016, was enjoying house arrest due to alleged health problems, explains a report by RT.

The justice that the victims yearn for, however, is closer. Starting this Friday, judges Maximiliano Troyano, Roberto Faustino Lezcano and Norma Vera will lead a trial that, in accordance with the aforementioned crimes, can culminate in sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

The statements that the survivors have made to various media coincide in the modus operandi of a priest who had wide social recognition in Salta. In the case of the two ex-novices, the aggravating factor is that they were minors. In addition, they had come to him, to entrust him with previous abuses suffered. Instead of helping them, he asked them to be quiet so as not to affect the congregation. And he abused them again.

The formal accusation will be carried out by the prosecutor María Luján Sodero Calvet, who when making the accusation that led to the trial explained that more than 20 witnesses had confirmed the accusations of the complainants. They even warned that there are many more cases, but the victims preferred not to denounce so as not to recall the trauma suffered.

Rosa’s ties to the narco

In 2019, the shock generated by the allegations of sexual abuse against Rosa Torino was intensified by an investigation by the Todo Noticias channel that revealed that the priest is also accused of alleged money laundering of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel.

Journalist Miriam Lewin interviewed a former member of the Institute founded by the priest, who told her that he doubted the origin and intentions of the benefactors who helped Rosa Torino.

«We were suspicious because we did not know what they were working on and there was a lot of money, a lot of luxury. They were sinister people, they said they had ‘little’ companies, but never what they did (in these companies). Once, two brothers went to a place full of armed guys and told them they had to bless a field of sheep. They were terrified, one of them immediately realized the situation», said the witness, who also began to suspect that hitmen were being hired.

«Drug traffickers generally go into churches, they are very believers, and they ask for a blessing before operations and shootings. They would kiss the rosary, and say «madrecita, padrecito» (Holy Mother, Holy Father). Once they went to the convent for the superior to bless them, because the village priest was not there. Many cars were parked. It was impossible to say no, they were like 30 armed monkeys», he said.

Another former member of the congregation assured that on one occasion more than 50 members of the Institute traveled from Mexico to Argentina and that they brought thousands of dollars in cash that they supposedly donated to Rosa Torino.

When the trial for sexual abuse ends, the priest could face a new process for alleged money laundering, although the case has not made substantial progress in the Salta courts.

Against impunity

Until 2017, according to an investigation by the Telam Agency, in Argentina there were 59 priests and three nuns accused of sexual abuse. Eight had been convicted and only three had been expelled from the priesthood.

Since then, more and more cases have been made visible thanks, in part, to the work carried out by the Network of Survivors of Ecclesiastical Abuses of Argentina, which pressures justice to act and stop the impunity, that this type of crime has enjoyed worldwide, mainly due to to the protection of the Catholic Church.

One of the most shocking trials, due to the number of victims and the perversities committed, culminated in November 2019 with the convictions of priests Horacio Corbacho (59 years old) and Nicola Corradi (83) to 45 and 42 years in prison, respectively. for having tortured and sexually abused, between 2005 and 2016, around twenty hearing-impaired minors between the ages of seven and 17 who lived at the Instituto Próvolo, a religious boarding school located in the province of Mendoza, 1,000 kilometers west of Buenos Aires.

The process was historic and emblematic at the international level for several reasons: the seriousness of the events denounced; the decades that the aggressions lasted; the weight of the penalties applied against members of the Catholic Church; the role that this institution played in keeping prior complaints against those involved in reserve; the condemned’s use of their position of power; the demonstration that one of these priests had already committed abuses in Italy, and the vulnerability of the victims.

Last May, this case faced a new stage with the start of the trial against Kosaka Kumiko, a 46-year-old Japanese nun who was arrested in 2017, after having been a fugitive, and who, since then, faces house arrest in a convent.

The nun began working at the Próvolo in 2007 and, according to the testimonies of the victims, she was the one who took them to the abusive priests. For this, she chose the most submissive children, those who could least defend themselves; she put diapers on them to cover evidence of rape and she also sexually abused the girls or asked them to touch each other to see them. That is why she faces the most serious charges: aggravated sexual abuse, corruption of minors and a primary participant by omission.