Operation Condor: Difference between revisions

Victims included dissidents and leftists, union and peasant leaders, priests, monks and nuns, students and teachers, intellectuals, and suspected guerrillas such as prominent union leader Marcelo Santuray in Argentina or journalist Carlos Prats in Chile. Condor operatives participated in tactics such as [[death flights]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Operación Cóndor en el Archivo del Terror |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB239d/index.htm |access-date=2024-04-23 |website=nsarchive2.gwu.edu}}</ref><ref name="McSherry2002" /> Although it was described by the CIA as "a cooperative effort by the intelligence/security services of several South American countries to combat terrorism and subversion",<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB416/docs/780822cia.pdf|title=A Brief Look at "Operation Condor"|date=1978-08-22|website=nsarchive2.gwu.edu|access-date=12 April 2019|archive-date=19 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319085051/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB416/docs/780822cia.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> combatting ''guerrillas'' was used as a pretext for its existence, as guerrillas were not substantial enough in numbers to control territory, gain material support by any foreign power, or otherwise threaten national security.{{sfn|McSherry|2005|pp=1-4}}<ref name="El Estado de necesidad">[http://www.desaparecidos.org/arg/doc/secretos/conde.html "El Estado de necesidad"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402085029/http://www.desaparecidos.org/arg/doc/secretos/conde.html |date=2 April 2023 }} (in Spanish); Documents of the Trial of the Juntas at Desaparecidos.org.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://aliciapatterson.org/stories/argentinas-dirty-war|title=Argentina's Dirty War – Alicia Patterson Foundation|work=aliciapatterson.org|access-date=16 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129015852/http://aliciapatterson.org/stories/argentinas-dirty-war|archive-date=29 January 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Condor's initial members were the governments of [[Argentina]], [[Bolivia]], [[Chile]], [[Paraguay]], and [[Uruguay]]; [[Brazil]] signed the agreement later on. [[Ecuador]] and [[Peru]] later joined the operation in a more peripheral role.{{sfn|McSherry|2005|p=4}}{{sfn|McSherry|2010|p=108}} The United States government provided planning, coordinating and training on torture.{{sfn|McSherry|2005}}<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|date=2020-09-03|title=Operation Condor: the cold war conspiracy that terrorized South America|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/sep/03/operation-condor-the-illegal-state-network-that-terrorised-south-america|access-date=2021-10-06|website=the Guardian|language=en|archive-date=17 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217174143/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/sep/03/operation-condor-the-illegal-state-network-that-terrorised-south-america|url-status=live}}</ref> Such support was at times routed through the CIA.<ref name=":4" /> However, a letter which was written by renowned [[Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional|DINA]] assassin [[Michael Townley]] in 1976 noted the existence of a network of individual Southern Cone secret polices known as ''Red Condor''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/30799-document-3-townley-papers-relato-de-sucesos-en-la-muerte-de-orlando-letelier-el-21|title=Townley Papers, "Relato de Sucesos en la Muerte de Orlando Letelier el 21 de Septiembre, 1976 [Report of Events in the Death of Orlando Letelier, September 21, 1976]," March 14, 1976|first=Michael|last=Townley|publisher=National Security Archive|date=November 25, 2023|access-date=26 November 2023|archive-date=25 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231125161454/https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/30799-document-3-townley-papers-relato-de-sucesos-en-la-muerte-de-orlando-letelier-el-21|url-status=live}}</ref> With tensions between Chile and Argentina rising and Argentina severely weakened as a result of the loss in Falklands War to the British military, the Argentine junta fell in 1983, which in turn led to more South American dictatorships falling.<ref name="falklandsendscondor" /> The fall of the Argentine junta has been regarded as marking in the end of Operation Condor.<ref name="juntafalls" />

 

 

==Antecedents==