William Luers
Deputy assistant secretary of state who drafted the August 1976 cable warning the Condor governments against assassination abroad, pressed for its delivery, and was told on September 20 to take no further action.
William H. Luers was a deputy to Harry Shlaudeman, assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs, in 1976.1
The Cable
Shlaudeman's memorandum to Henry Kissinger of August 5, 1976, warned that the Southern Cone governments "have established Operation Condor to find and kill terrorists" in their own countries and in Europe. Luers and Shlaudeman's other deputy, Hewson Ryan, drafted the response over three weeks. Cable 209192 of August 23, drafted by R. Zimmerman and Luers, cleared by Shlaudeman, R. Kirk, and the under secretary Philip Habib, and approved by Kissinger, went by the Roger Channel to the embassies in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Santiago. "Government planned and directed assassinations within and outside the territory of Condor members has most serious implications which we must face squarely and rapidly." There were "rumors that this cooperation may extend beyond information exchange to include plans for the assassination of subversives, politicians and prominent figures both within the national borders of certain Southern Cone countries and abroad." The ambassadors were to "seek appointment as soon as possible with highest appropriate official, preferably the chief of state." The embassy at La Paz was told: "We are not repeat not instructing you to make the specific demarche on Condor."12
Popper replied on August 24: "I seriously doubt that an approach to President Pinochet is the best way to achieve it. It is quite possible, even probable, that Pinochet has no knowledge whatever of Operation Condor." He proposed that the CIA station chief tell Contreras instead, "in the context of having heard a rumor which he cannot believe."3
No Further Action
Ambassador Ernest Siracusa in Montevideo declined to deliver it and asked for instructions; the ambassadors in Chile and Argentina raised concerns. Luers spent the following weeks pressing Ambassador David Popper to deliver the message to Augusto Pinochet or through the CIA to Manuel Contreras. On September 16 Kissinger cabled from Lusaka that he "declined to approve message to Montevideo" and "instructed that no further action be taken on this matter." On September 19 Luers cabled Shlaudeman in Costa Rica on how to proceed; the cable remains classified. On September 20 Shlaudeman directed Luers "to instruct the ambassadors to take no further action, noting that there have been no reports in some weeks indicating an intention to activate the Condor scheme." Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt were killed in Washington the next morning.1
Sources
- National Security Archive, "Operation Condor Verdict: GUILTY!," Electronic Briefing Book, May 27, 2016, with the memorandum of Harry Shlaudeman to the Secretary of State, August 5, 1976, the memorandum of conversation of Kissinger and César Guzzetti, June 10, 1976, and cables of September 16 and 20, 1976. ↩
- U.S. Department of State, cable 209192 to the embassies at Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Santiago, "Operation Condor," August 23, 1976, Secret, Roger Channel. National Security Archive, document 04 in "Operation Condor Verdict: GUILTY!," Electronic Briefing Book, May 27, 2016. ↩
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, vol. E-11, part 2, Documents on South America, 1973-1976, document 242, telegram 8210 from Santiago, August 24, 1976. ↩
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