Full Description:
DINA was the Chilean secret police force under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Functioning as a “state within a state,” it was the primary engine of repression in Chile and the driving force behind the international coordination of Operation Condor.

Critical Perspective:
DINA illustrates the privatizationPrivatization Full Description:The transfer of ownership, property, or business from the government to the private sector. It involves selling off public assets—such as water, rail, energy, and housing—turning shared public goods into commodities for profit. Privatization is based on the neoliberal assumption that the private sector is inherently more efficient than the public sector. Governments sell off state-owned enterprises to private investors, often at discounted rates, arguing that the profit motive will drive better service and lower costs. Critical Perspective:Critics view privatization as the “enclosure of the commons.” It frequently leads to higher prices for essential services, as private companies prioritize shareholder returns over public access. It also hollows out the state, stripping it of its capacity to act and leaving citizens at the mercy of private monopolies for their basic needs (like water or electricity).
Read more of state violence. While technically part of the government, it answered only to Pinochet, bypassing all legal and military hierarchies. It operated with total impunity, assassinating rivals not just in Chile, but on the streets of Washington D.C. (the Letelier bombing) and Buenos Aires, demonstrating that the regime’s battlefield had no borders.

Operation Condor was a clandestine and coordinated campaign of political repression and state terror carried out by right-wing military dictatorships in South America during the 1970s and 1980s. Officially established in November 1975, this multinational network was responsible for widespread human rights abuses, including kidnappings, torture, and assassinations of political opponents.The legacy of Operation Condor is one of profound trauma and an ongoing struggle for justice and historical memory, as nations continue to grapple with the dark chapters of their past.

The Seeds of Repression: A Wave of Coups Across the Southern Cone

The foundation for Operation Condor was laid by a series of military coups that toppled democratically elected governments across the Southern Cone. These authoritarian regimes, often fueled by anti-communist ideology and backed by the United States, systematically dismantled democratic institutions and targeted perceived “subversives.”

The Chilean Coup: From Allende to Pinochet, 1973
On September 11, 1973, a military juntaJunta Full Description: A military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force. These military councils suspended constitutions, dissolved congresses, and banned political parties, claiming to act as “guardians” of the nation against internal corruption and subversion. A Junta is the administrative body of a military dictatorship. In the Southern Cone, these were often composed of the heads of the different branches of the armed forces (Army, Navy, Air Force). They justified their seizure of power as a “state of exception” necessary to restore order, presenting themselves as apolitical technocrats saving the nation from the chaos of democracy. Critical Perspective:The Junta represents the militarization of politics. By treating the governance of a nation like a military operation, these regimes viewed distinct political opinions not as healthy democratic debate, but as insubordination or treason to be court-martialed. It replaced the messy consensus-building of democracy with the rigid hierarchy of the barracks. led by General Augusto Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected socialist government of President Salvador Allende in Chile. The coup, which had support from the United States, ushered in a brutal 17-year dictatorship. Following the takeover, the regime launched a campaign of severe repression, arresting, torturing, and killing thousands of Allende’s supporters and suspected leftists.

Argentina’s Dirty War: Terror in the Name of the Nation (1976–1983)
In March 1976, a military junta seized power in Argentina, initiating a period of state-sponsored violence known as the “Dirty War.” The regime, calling itself the National Reorganization Process, targeted not only armed guerrilla movements but also students, trade unionists, journalists, and anyone suspected of holding left-wing views. An estimated 10,000 to 30,000 people were “disappeared” by the authorities, taken to clandestine detention centers where they were tortured and killed.

The Architecture of Terror: Key Players and Institutions

At the heart of Operation Condor was a network of military dictatorships that shared intelligence and collaborated in cross-border operations to eliminate their political enemies.

Operation Condor: The Secret War Against Dissent (1975–1983)
Operation Condor was formally created in November 1975 at a meeting in Santiago, Chile, hosted by Pinochet’s intelligence chief, Manuel Contreras. The founding members were Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, with Brazil joining later. This alliance created a borderless zone of terror, allowing member states to hunt down and eliminate dissidents who had fled to neighboring countries. The total number of people killed and disappeared under Operation Condor is estimated to be in the tens of thousands.

The School of the Americas (SOA): Origins and Mission
The School of the Americas, a U.S. military training facility, played a significant role in the events of this era. Many of the military officers who carried out the atrocities of Operation Condor were trained at the SOA. The curriculum at the SOA, rooted in counterinsurgency and anti-communist doctrine, provided the tactical skills and ideological justification for the repression that swept across the continent.

Paraguay and Stroessner: The Forgotten Pillar of Operation Condor
Under the long-ruling dictator General Alfredo Stroessner, Paraguay became a crucial component of the Condor network. Having seized power in a 1954 coup, Stroessner’s regime was built on a foundation of military force and state terror. The discovery of the “Archives of TerrorArchives of Terror Full Description:The Archives of Terror refers to a massive cache of internal documents discovered in a police station in Asunción, Paraguay, in 1992. These papers provided the first irrefutable documentary evidence of the existence of Operation Condor, detailing the kidnapping, torture, and murder of thousands of Latin Americans. Critical Perspective:The discovery of these archives shattered the “plausible deniability” that the dictatorships (and the US government) had maintained for decades. The documents revealed the banality of the evil involved: the interstate kidnapping of dissidents was handled with the same bureaucratic paperwork as shipping cargo. They serve as a permanent indictment of the regimes, proving that the terror was not the work of rogue elements, but a highly coordinated state policy.
Read more” in 1992 revealed the extent of Paraguay’s involvement, documenting the systematic surveillance, torture, and disappearance of political opponents and the regime’s collaborationCollaboration Full Description:The cooperation of local governments, police forces, and citizens in German-occupied countries with the Nazi regime. The Holocaust was a continental crime, reliant on French police, Dutch civil servants, and Ukrainian militias to identify and deport victims. Collaboration challenges the narrative that the Holocaust was solely a German crime. across Europe, local administrations assisted the Nazis for various reasons: ideological agreement (antisemitism), political opportunism, or bureaucratic obedience. In many cases, local police rounded up Jews before German forces even arrived. Critical Perspective:This term reveals the fragility of social solidarity. When their Jewish neighbors were targeted, many European societies chose to protect their own national sovereignty or administrative autonomy by sacrificing the minority. It complicates the post-war myths of “national resistance” that many European countries adopted to hide their complicity.
Read more with its neighbours in “prisoner exchanges.”

Brazil’s Military Regime: Technocrats, Torturers, and the Myth of Order (1964–1985)
The Brazilian military dictatorship, which came to power in a 1964 coup, was an active participant in Operation Condor. The regime collaborated with its neighbours in hunting down exiles and dissidents, as exemplified by the notorious 1978 kidnapping of Uruguayan activists in Porto Alegre with the permission of Brazilian authorities. Brazil’s involvement extended its repressive reach beyond its own borders, contributing to the climate of fear and impunity that defined the era.

Uruguay: The Laboratory of Repression and Surveillance
The civic-military dictatorship that took power in Uruguay in 1973 was another key member of Operation Condor. The Uruguayan regime was deeply involved in the transnational persecution of its citizens, with Uruguayans accounting for a significant portion of Condor’s victims. Recently declassified documents have further illuminated the extent of Uruguay’s collaboration with its dictatorial neighbours in carrying out human rights violations.

The Human Dimension and International Complicity

Operation Condor was not an abstract political strategy; it was a campaign of terror that had a devastating impact on individuals and families across South America. The role of international actors, particularly the United States, in enabling this network of repression remains a subject of intense scrutiny and debate.

The Double-Edged Sword: Women, Resistance, and Repression under Operation Condor
Women were systematically targeted by the Condor regimes with gendered forms of repression, viewed as both political subversives and threats to the traditional patriarchal order. They were subjected to horrific violence, and their family members were often used as leverage to extract information or coerce surrender. In response, women formed powerful networks of resistance, such as the Mothers of the Plaza de MayoMothers of the Plaza de Mayo Full Description:The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo is an association of Argentine women who began gathering in front of the presidential palace (Casa Rosada) in 1977 to publicly demand information regarding the whereabouts of their “disappeared” children. Wearing white headscarves (symbolizing diapers), they walked in circles to defy the ban on public assembly. Critical Perspective:This movement represents the weaponization of traditional gender roles against the state. The military junta, which claimed to defend “family values,” found itself paralyzed by these women. They could not easily massacre mothers and grandmothers without losing all moral legitimacy. By politicizing their grief, the Mothers transformed private trauma into the most potent public challenge to the dictatorship’s authority.
Read more in Argentina, transforming their traditional roles as mothers and caregivers into a potent force for human rights advocacy.

The Silent Partner: Exploring the Extent of U.S. Complicity in Operation Condor
While the U.S. government did not create Operation Condor, its complicity is a matter of historical record. The U.S. provided financial aid, military training, and intelligence to the member regimes, viewing them as key allies in the Cold War struggle against communism. Declassified documents have revealed that U.S. officials were aware of Condor’s assassination plans, yet they failed to take decisive action to dismantle the network. This “silent partnership” helped to sustain the machinery of terror that claimed thousands of lives.