Operation Condor

Operation Condor (Spanish: Operacion Condor) was a clandestine program of political repression and intelligence cooperation established in November 1975 among the military intelligence services of six South American nations: Chile (led by Augusto Pinochet's DINA), Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil. The program was facilitated by the Central Intelligence Agency, which provided communications infrastructure, training, and operational support. Condor coordinated the identification, tracking, interrogation, and assassination of left-wing political opponents - including those who had fled across borders seeking refuge - resulting in an estimated 60,000 deaths across the participant countries.¹

Founding and Structure

The founding meeting occurred in Santiago, Chile, in November 1975, organized by Chilean DINA chief Manuel Contreras under CIA Station Chief Theodore Shackley's authority. Representatives of the intelligence services of all six founding members attended. The operational structure was divided into three phases:

• Phase I (Condor I): Exchange of intelligence on political opponents among member states
• Phase II (Condor II): Cross-border kidnapping and assassination operations to eliminate opponents who had fled to other member states
• Phase III (Condor III): Operations in Europe and North America against high-profile political figures and exiles

The communications network (called Condortel) was established through a secure telex system connected through U.S. military telecommunications infrastructure in the Panama Canal Zone and later through equipment provided directly by the CIA.²

CIA Support

The CIA's material support for Condor is documented through declassified State Department and CIA documents, the findings of the Church Committee (1975-1976), and the subsequent Hinchey Report (2000). CIA officer Michael Townley, stationed in Chile, was a DINA operative who participated in multiple Condor assassinations, including the 1976 car bombing in Washington, D.C. of former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and his American colleague Ronni Moffitt - carried out by DINA with Townley's direct participation on American soil. Townley pleaded guilty in the United States and served time before being placed in witness protection.¹

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's awareness of and attitude toward Condor is documented in declassified State Department cables. In June 1976, Kissinger had his assistant send a cable to U.S. ambassadors in Condor countries warning of negative publicity if Condor's Phase III European operations became public - a cable that critics interpreted as more concerned with managing exposure than halting the assassinations.²

Major Operations

Documented Condor operations include:

• September 30, 1974: Car bombing of exiled Chilean Army General Carlos Prats and his wife in Buenos Aires (Argentina)
• September 21, 1976: Car bombing of Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C. (United States)
• October 1975: Assassination of Uruguayan former legislators Zelmar Michelini and Hector Gutierrez Ruiz in Buenos Aires
• Multiple kidnappings of opponents across Condor member states

The "Caravan of Death" - DINA special army unit executions across Chile in October 1973 - predated Condor's formal establishment but represented the same operational logic.¹

Discovery and Documentation

The "Condor Archive" - approximately 700,000 documents from Paraguay's secret police found in a police station in Lambare in December 1992 by human rights lawyer Martin Almada - provided the most comprehensive documentary proof of Condor's operations and the detailed records of cross-border intelligence sharing. The documents were preserved as the "Archive of Terror" and are recognized by UNESCO.²