Live
Audio Only
Operation condor was a multinational alliance between Latin American dictatorships, with the the help of the CIA, in an effort to eliminate leftist movements.
Director of Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay Dianela Pi said Friday that her office would be requesting from Argentina the files they have in their possession about Condor Operation, specifically those related to Urgauya's dictatorship.
RELATED:
Controversy Around Uruguay Army Role in Dictatorship Continues
"We will have to analyze what kind of information we have to see how we are going to proceed to ask the information to the Argentine government," said Pi. The texts will be analyzed to determine which data is new and for what causes it can be used.
Operation Condor was set up in 1975 in Santiago de Chile in a meeting chaired by the head of the Chilean chief of intelligence services, Manuel Contreras. Key member countries of Operation Condor were Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, and Bolivia, with Peru and Ecuador occasionally participating. The joint operations aimed to track down left-wing activist across South America.
The request comes just days after the United States delivered to Argentina its final installment of the Declassification Project on human rights abuses made during the military dictatorship in Argentina from 1976 to 1983. The documents reveal some of the most horrific acts and crimes carried out by the Argentine rulers at the time which had received the full support of the United States government and its agencies.
The documents show that the United States provided support to military juntas that came to power in Latin America in the 1980s, training them on harsh counterinsurgency techniques at the United States Army School of the Americas.
The documents also show U.S. diplomatic communiques about Condor deaths in Uruguay.
"The Uruguayan government has been informed privately by the Argentine authorities that eight of the 10 bodies found on the Uruguayan coast are the result of Argentine anti-terrorist operations," stated a diplomatic cable from the U.S. State Department in May 1976. "The source ensures that the bodies were thrown into the Río de la Plata from helicopters after the interrogations carried out by the Argentine authorities," reads the official U.S. statement.
Some of the documents also show the relationship between the assassination of the National Party politician Hector Gutierrez and the Tupamaros Movement. It also confirmed the killing of Gerardo Gatti and Leon Duarte, leaders of the People's Victory Party (PVP).
Newsletter
