WHAT IS OPERATION CONDOR?
Formally established in the First Inter-American Working Meeting of Intelligence held in Chile, Operation Condor (1975) was a covert intelligence program in which South American governments disseminated intelligence documents that incriminated left-leaning individuals. The main nations involved in this scheme were Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil. [1] Through the Condor plan, military groups "vanished" exiles that had ran away from their homelands due to the suppression and imposed varying levels of torture through joint transnational initiatives. Moreover, these South American militias attacked people on the grounds of their controversial ideas, not actual committed crimes. The operation drilled down insurgents, academicians, students, and freedom fighters in their respective countries. [2] |
"Unraveling Operation Condor, a campaign of state terror in 1970s South America," YouTube video, 6:23, posted by "University of Oxford," February 11, 2022.
This video offers a brief overview into Operation Condor in Latin America in the 1970s. The video also provides a personal narrative from individuals that were directly affected by the state of terror that pervaded several populations. |
PHASES OF OPERATION CONDOR
Operation Condor was based on three different tiers. The primary part was shared aid between military intelligence forces to arrange governmental espionage on intended rebels and trade recon knowledge. The second part "covert action", a method of hostile combat in which the identity of the aggressor is hidden. The third level, which was the most confidential, is infamously classified as "Phase III". In this level of the operation, designated death squads from participating nations were created to go abroad and murder "subversive enemies". The targets at this level were political chiefs that were deemed as threats due to their capability to rally large masses under dangerous ideologies. [3] Namely, it was Robert Scherrer that disclosed the existence of "Phase III" of Operation Condor. [4]
Newspapers clippings detailing missing, killed, and exiled peoples across Latin America during Operation Condor
Source: Center of Legal and Social Studies (CELS)
Source: Center of Legal and Social Studies (CELS)
KEY ELEMENTS OF OPERATION CONDOR
The first element of Operation Condor was its intensive use of transnational and overseas initiatives against revolutionaries. Albeit employing the same techniques, Condor, in this context, was classified as a subgroup to the bigger waves of suppression that were being executed by the armed forces in their respective nations. Led by groups like Argentina's Extraterritorial Task Force and Chile's National Intelligence Directorate, successful operations were carried out through providing materials like passports and air crafts to member countries. [5]
A second component was its "multinational character". Moreover, Condor squadrons were inspired by the American Special Forces teams, who had vast skills on "counterterror" methods. Explicitly, Operation Condor forces implemented psychological warfare (i.e. PSYWAR) like misinformation to influence and exploit their civilians and black propaganda to disseminate terror and expand their political authority. [6]
The third factor of Operation Condor was its methodical attacks on rebels. In contrast to the capricious persecutions that were carried out in Condor nations, the Condor Program narrowed down on the beheadings of expelled heads of government, leftist contributors, etc. One must note that even though some of the people attacked by Condor forces were revolutionaries, they still held the right to fair trials and omission from maltreatment. [7]
A fourth characteristic of Operation Condor was its "parastatal structure". Furthermore, state-backed paramilitiaries carry out both the collection of imperative intelligence information and are ample devices of trepidation for "black world operations". In turn, this allowed the Latin American state governments to pull the plausible deniability card. [8]
The fifth feature of this covert program was its sophisticated technology. Operation Condor had access to electronic databases that withheld archives of photos, espionage data, psychological examinations, etc of thousands of peoples that were classified as dissenters. [9]
"Operation Condor: All Major Missions and Events [1968–1989]", YouTube video, 27:41, posted by "Us & Now," March 23, 2022.
Footnotes
[1] J. Patrice, McSherry. “Tracking the Origins of a State Terror Network: Operation Condor.” Latin American perspectives 29, no. 1 (2002): 38–39. [JSTOR]
[2] J. Patrice, McSherry. “Tracking the Origins of a State Terror Network: Operation Condor.” Latin American perspectives 29, no. 1 (2002): 38–39. [JSTOR]
[3] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005), 25.
[4] John Dinges, The Condor Years : How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents / John Dinges (New York: New Press, 2004), 25-26.
[5] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005), 25-26.
[6] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America, 26.
[7] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America, 26.
[8] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America, 27-28.
[9] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America, 28-29.
[1] J. Patrice, McSherry. “Tracking the Origins of a State Terror Network: Operation Condor.” Latin American perspectives 29, no. 1 (2002): 38–39. [JSTOR]
[2] J. Patrice, McSherry. “Tracking the Origins of a State Terror Network: Operation Condor.” Latin American perspectives 29, no. 1 (2002): 38–39. [JSTOR]
[3] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005), 25.
[4] John Dinges, The Condor Years : How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents / John Dinges (New York: New Press, 2004), 25-26.
[5] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005), 25-26.
[6] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America, 26.
[7] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America, 26.
[8] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America, 27-28.
[9] J. Patrice McSherry, Predatory States : Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America, 28-29.