Julio Iglesias ‘always requested young, Latina women with a physique to his liking,’ says group that filed complaint against singer

Jovana Rios is the executive director of Women’s Link. Lawyer Gema Fernández is its legal director for Europe. This NGO is advising the women who have allegedly been abused by Spanish singer Julio Iglesias and has helped two former workers to file a lawsuit against him. The lawsuit accuses Iglesias of sexual assault, harassment and human trafficking for the purpose of forced labor and servitude.

Ríos and Fernández explain to EL PAÍS how they expect the proceedings to unfold and why they consider the case so important for other victims of sexual violence. The Spanish Attorney General’s Office will hear the testimony of protected witnesses Rebeca and Laura (not their real names), the singer’s two former workers who told the Spanish news site elDiario.es and the TV network Univision about the terrifying environment in which they were subject to his orders.

Question. How are these two women doing now?

Gema Fernández. There were a lot of nerves before publication. Now what they tell us is that they feel supported and are proud of the step they have taken. They have been very brave, they know it and they feel that they are doing the right thing.

Jovana Ríos. We are a multidisciplinary team at Women’s Link, and we have experts in gender, violence, human rights, public policies and mental health. We have approached the case from a very comprehensive perspective, not only a legal one. The women have safeguarding plans. After talking to them, my understanding is that, at this complex time, they are placing their faith in the justice system in Spain.

Q. Do you consider this to be an isolated case, given the clear power imbalance between the accused and the complainants?

G. M. We don’t believe so, because of the context in which these rights violations, situations of exploitation and sexual violence occur. There is a framework of discrimination against women, a perception that their bodies can be used and abused, which means that they are not isolated cases. There is a framework of permissiveness, tolerance and impunity regarding these situations.

J. R. The organization detects patterns that are very hard for survivors of violence, because once they take the step of reporting there is immense pressure to prove that they are telling the truth, and that is very hard. The emotional burden that survivors carry is incredible — having to prove over and over again that they deserve to be believed. Socially, they are put in this complex situation: either I prove that I deserve to be believed or I remain silent. Rebeca and Laura’s courage in this case helps us to reflect on the importance of believing the survivors.

Q. What might this process mean for other women?

J. R. The Attorney General’s Office of the National Court of Spain is still in the pre-procedural phase, and we are waiting for them to make a decision. But the fact that they have decided to take testimony from both Rebeca and Laura is fundamental because the women want to be heard in conditions that do not revictimize them. It is a clear message from the authorities to other survivors of violence who are thinking about whether to report it. The concept of justice itself is also fundamental – it is essential to believe that this justice system can respond regardless of who the accused is, of what power and economic influence he has.

Q. How did Julio Iglesias recruit these workers?

G. F. By analyzing the testimonies of Rebeca and Laura, together with the evidence and the documentation provided, we have detected a certain modus operandi. This man has two mansions, in Punta Cana and in the Bahamas, and needs domestic and personal service with people attending to him personally, for physiotherapy, for example. We talk about personnel, but in reality we are referring to women — and women with a certain profile. Other employees, the so-called house managers, were the ones who were in charge of finding these girls with a profile to the accused’s taste. These were young women, always Latinas, generally racialized with bodies Iglesias’ approved of. Physical attributes took precedence over the person’s abilities to perform the work they were supposed to do. The house managers were in charge of looking for these girls on social networks. I think they placed ads with quite vague information on networks where they knew that they were going to find young people with these characteristics.

Q. What role does Iglesias’ power play?

J. R. I was just thinking about why we have included trafficking in the lawsuit: recruitment, transfer, accommodation, exploitation. And there is also an associated pattern that we have detected listening to the testimonies. The first is deception: it promises a job with a better life which turns out to be a lie. Then there’s the threats. Once they realize things are not good, they are made to believe something bad will happen if they do not obey and continue to work in his homes. Then there is the violence that takes different shapes: beatings, confinement, physical and psychological aggression, the constant humiliation and the abuse of power in these situations of vulnerability. And finally, the coercion they describe: the constant pressure, the control, not allowing them to leave the houses, asking for access to their phones.

Q. What has been done about the people who collaborated with Julio Iglesias to recruit the women?

G. F. We have given it a lot of thought, also from a perspective of understanding power dynamics, from the top to the bottom. The same house managers have a hierarchical employment relationship with the defendant and in turn are in a superior position to the other workers. They are mentioned in the lawsuit to the extent that they collaborated with him and facilitated these encounters that led to sexual assault. But the lawsuit is filed against Iglesias. In terms of the competence of the Spanish justice system, he is the one who has a link with Spain.

Q. What would you say to those who wonder why these women did not leave the mansions and their jobs?

J. R. We explain how power dynamics work in cycles of violence and what they imply regarding the women’s socioeconomic conditions; the impact of being a migrant woman when the possibility of staying in a country is tied to that job, the fear of having to leave and the potential reprisals. It is important to see everything through the lens of power dynamics: for someone not living that experience of violence it may seem simple, but it is not. All those women experiencing such situations suffer a lot. First, in recognizing what is happening to them – the violence in which they are immersed. And then in understanding what steps they need to take to survive, which requires emotional energy.

Q. How many women who claim to have worked for Julio Iglesias have contacted you?

J. R. We prefer not to say how many or the reasons for their calls, as these women are afraid and placed their trust in us. We have a responsibility to respect that confidentiality.

Q. Does this case have parallels with that of the convicted U.S. pedophile Jeffrey Epstein?

J. R. The similarities lie in the power dynamics with the accused being someone famous with widespread influence and economic power. But, at the same time, we have not received nor are we aware of information implying the accused [Julio Iglesias] also facilitated the exploitation of women by other powerful men. We have no information about that or any evidence that leads us to it.

Q. Why, regardless of the nationality of the accused, have you decided to take the case to a Spanish court?

G. F. After asking the victims what idea of justice they have, what they need, what they are looking for, we identified Spanish justice to be the one to best respond to their demands. There is also a connection with the nationality of the accused and the nature of the crimes that we believe to be present in this case.

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