UNHCR Commissioner flags arrest and refoulment of Uruguayan exiles in Argentina

This document addressed to the US Secretary of State from the US Ambassador to Argentina mentions the visit of the UN High Commissioner for Refugee's (UNHCR), Kevin Lyonette, to Argentina. Lyonette expressed concern regarding the potential arrest and refoulment of up to 25 Uruguayans living in Buenos Aires between December 1977 and January 1978.

UN refugee office in Argentina is raided

This telegram from the US State Department reports that the UNHCR office in Buenos Aires (Argentina) has been raided. The event may have been intended as a warning following the critical statements made by former Uruguayan senator Enrique Erro in Geneva about his detention in Argentina. 

The document claims that the UNHCR has 50 cases of Bolivian, Chilean, Paraguayan, and Uruguayan refugees in Argentina.

Conversation with Regional Representative of UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)

This document records a conversation with the Regional Representative of the UNHCR, Robert Muller, following his 14-month-long visit to Argentina. Muller claims that, of the 14,000 refugees mandated by the UNHCR, around 2,000 have been resettled outside Argentina.

The report highlights that UNHCR relations with the Argentine military regime have improved owing to a certain level of cooperation to remove refugees from the country.

UNHCR claims one thousand Argentines seeking asylum in Brazil

This telegram from the US Embassy in Brazil to the State Department reports that the UNHCR will be visiting Brazil to investigate the situation of refugees in the country. The UNHCR suspects that 1,000 Argentine citizens are seeking asylum in Brazil. The UNHCR flags the cooperation between the Bolivian and Argentine security forces for the refoulment of Argentine refugees but claims that the Brazilian security forces are yet to return Argentine exiles.

Disappearance or repatriation of Uruguayan PVP militants in Argentina

In this document, the US Ambassador to Argentina reports on the return to Uruguay of PVP militants exiled in Argentina. According to the UNHCR, 12 out of 14 of the names on the list refer to Uruguayan refugees kidnapped in July and September 1976 and at least 40 more Uruguayans were disappeared during this period. The US Ambassador suspects that the kidnappings were carried out in a secret joint exercise by Uruguayan and Argentine security forces.

Media cover up by Uruguayan regime on capture of PVP militants in Argentina

This telegram from the US Embassy in Uruguay to the State Department reports on the propaganda campaign by the Uruguayan military regime announcing the capture of 62 militants belonging to the Party for the Victory of the People (PVP). PVP militants who had been exiled in Argentina revoked their claims that they had been kidnapped by Argentine authorities to instead claim that they were infiltrating back into Uruguay with plans to carry out assassinations and sabotage. This is an attempt to cover up Operation Condor's crossborder activities.