During the 70 and 80 years in the middle of the cold war, a plan that would allow coordination and support among the dictatorial governments of the South American cone was orchestrated. Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, with the economic, strategy and information auspices of the United States. The Operation Condor , was the way in which the dictatorships of the south of the American continent, found themselves to end the political and democratic opposition to become dictatorial, regressive, abusive and bloodthirsty countries.how, why and for whom, is part of the objective of this article.
The Condor operation | What was the Condor operation?
Chile, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador, are countries of the South American cone that in addition to share continent, they share in their shields the representation of a bird.Perhaps one of the largest and most beautiful bird on earth, whose habitat is in the jungles of the south of the country nente. This bird is the Condor , and that is why this operation will be called that, Condor Operation or Condor Plan.
The Condor Operation, was a repressive system devised by the intelligence services and coordinated by the security forces of the dictatorial countries of the South American cone, composed of Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay , to a lesser extent Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador .
US provided its Intelligence services , as well as effective torture techniques
To this list we must add the US, who in the middle of the cold war, saw the opportunity to end any conat of leftist thoughts, and support with its Intelligence services, with support from the CIA and with important economic contributions.
The Condor operation | Main protagonists
The US has always defined Operation Condor as the code name of the an agreement for cooperation and coordination of intelligence services of the southern countries to to end any Marxist activity in the area, it was ultimately about ending any opposition to the regime.The main protagonists in this atrocity, called condor operation, were:
- Chile-Augusto Pinochet
- Bolivia-Hugo Banzer
- Paraguay-Alfredo Stroessner
- Brazil-Joao Figueredo
- Argentina-Rafael Videla
- Uruguay-Juan Maria Bodaberry
- USA-Henry Kissinger
The Condor operation | Background
As we have already mentioned that it was an organization in which several countries were involved, so it was of an international nature, in which State terrorism prevailed, pretending through fear, kidnapping and murder, put an end to any hint of freedom or democracy.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
To explain this barbarism we have to place ourselves a little earlier in time, the meetings between the CIA and officials of security especially of Uruguayans and Argentines , where the form of surveillance was discussed both for political exiles and the actions that Death Squads had to follow both Brazilians, Argentines and Uruguayans.
The squadrons of the mu erte, were organized groups belonging to the extreme right who were dedicated to the extortion, robbery, kidnapping, torture, attacks and of course these murders, their main victims, the dissidents .Really it was the paramilitary group, which acted according to the dictator's instructions, so that outside the law, they would solve what internationally it could be frowned upon.
Always turning to the declassified CIA documents , it is known that this supply various torture equipment to the security forces mainly, Brazilian and Argentina, as well as giving them the guidelines to improve torture techniques, techniques to know the degree of resistance to pain of a human body.
Declassified Documents, begin to shed light
The Condor Operation can be embedded as a pact of criminal character that could be carried out thanks to the network of dictatorships that began to proliferate throughout the southern cone of the continent, an operation that could not have been carried out without the help of the United States and its Intelligence service, main interested in ending with any Marxist or socialist current focus that could take place in the continent.
Assault on the Mint where Salvador Allende was assassinated
To control the entire continent it was necessary for the military to occupy the high positions of the government, so in 1954 Alfredo Stroessner, Paraguayan military who rose to power after a coup d'etat.In Brazil, the The military overthrew Democratic President João Goulart in 1964, bringing the military Ranieri Mazzilli to power. General Hugo Banzer in Bolivia in 1971, in 1973 the General Pinoche t bombs the house of La Moneda overthrowing the socialist president Salvador Allende.Also in 1973 the dictatorship was installed in Uruguay, in 1976 it was Rafael Videla who gave the military coup in Argentina.
The Condor operation | How it was executed
It all started in Chile on November 25, 1975 , a meeting between Manuel Contreras , head of the Chilean secret police or DINA, and the heads of the intelligence services of Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. Now you know and thanks to the latest files that have been declassified recently, that Manuel Contreras in 1975, was invited to visit the CIA headquarters in Langley, at least for 15 days.
Manuel Contreras: The former director of Pinochet's secret police who left a legacy of horror and blood in Chile
A year later of that signature in 1976, it was already the DINA and its homonym SIDE Argentina , were those who carried the weight of the famous Condor Plan or Operation Condor.
Thanks to the amount of documents that have recently been declassified, those known as Terror Archives, we can know the destination that thousands of citizens ran that were kidnapped and subsequently tortured and killed by the security services of the countries that are members of the operation.These files cannot leave us indifferent.
- 50,000 people killed
- 30,000 Missing
- 400,000 Incarcerated
The Condor operation | Consequences
The consequences are known to all, we don't forget the famous mothers of Plaza de Mayo, those women who keep asking to know what happened to their families.The consequences were devastating, young people who disappeared from their homes and were never seen again.
Pregnant women who disappeared and after giving birth appeared dead, their babies delivered to military families as soon as they were born, torn from the arms of their mothers.
Murders like the Chilean general Carlos Prats and former Chilean minister Orlando Letelier, were directly orchestrated by this sinister alliance called operation condor.Other assassination attempts such as Bernardo Leighton , in Italy who was seriously injured along with his wife, other leaders Argentine politicians suffered various attacks and attacks in Rome.Spain was not left out either, in Madrid an attempt was made to kidnap different leaders of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left of Chile.
Murder Announcement
The Condor Operation I had long tentacles, the desire to end any kind of dissent, I end up acting not only in the countries that are members of the operation, but also the squadrons operated both in the US and in Europe.
The Condor operation: Consequences | Argentina
In 1974 the Chilean retired General Carlos Prats and his wife , who resided in Argentina, seeing the situation in the country, began the process to abandon it.A few days later a US citizen and for more reviews, a CIA agent, placed a remote activation bomb, which ended the life of the marriage.
Murder of Carlos Prats and his wife
But the goal was not always to end the life of the political opponent, other times he was more interested the capture and delivery to the countries of origin, with the excuse of considering them subversive or seditious people , excuse more than enough to justify their disappearance.Cases such as the Zaffaroni, a kidnapped marriage and disappeared on September 27, 76, when they were taken to the center Automotores Orletti.
The stairs leading to the torture rooms of the clandestine center Orotti Automotive in Buenos Aires
Automotores Orletti, was the name of a clandestine center where political detainees were conducted , they were tortured and exterminated .They never saw marriage again, but In the year 98, this case jumped into the media when the daughter that the couple had appeared, who had been given in adoption to a family who knew how to take her on the right track, an agent of the Argentine Secretary of Intelligence.
The Condor operation: Consequences | Uruguay
Juan Maria Bordaberry proclaimed himself a dictator of Uruguay as was normal and usual among the dictators of the time, prohibited the existence of any other political party. In the period from 1973 to 1985, a large number of people were killed, kidnapped, tortured and disappeared, the fight against the subversives was the excuse.
President Juan Maria Bordaberry leads a military civil coup d'etat
Behind the Uruguayan government, security services were already Since 1973 he has received advice from the CIA on methods of torture.Uruguay was from all the countries where the Condor operation worked, the one that more political prisoners came to kidnap.
The subject of this article is very extensive to cover it in a single publication, in a few dates we will continue to expand it until it is completed.
From History Today Online we have thought it convenient to show you some links that you may be interested in.
The Condor operation | Photo Gallery
Many times a picture is worth a thousand words. In this terrible photo gallery where the violence of the images and the realism of them, can give us an idea of the magnitude of what happened in this terrible criminal conspiracy.
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