Collection "50 Years After Operation Condor"

50 Years After Operation Condor: Documents for Memory and Justice

This collection brings together historical documents and key texts that help to understand the repressive context that existed in South America during the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the prolonged and tireless pursuit of justice championed by the victims, their families, and civil society organisations. It also puts the spotlight on the struggles against authoritarianism, the resistance to dictatorships, and the sustained commitment to building Memory, Truth, and Justice.

The documents presented here were collected, digitised, and systematised thanks to a joint effort between researchers, social organisations, and institutions. In the current context of denialism and the resurgence of authoritarian discourses, it is essential to provide the public with free and open access to this documentation to strengthen critical thinking, democratise knowledge, and contribute to the symbolic reparation to the victims and society as a whole.

Starting in the early 1970s, the political repression which unfolded within each country took on a particularly sinister regional dimension with the creation of the so-called Operation Condor. In November 1975, military intelligence officers from the regimes of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay met in Santiago, Chile, and established the “Condor System.” According to the Minutes of the Conclusions of the First Inter-American Meeting on National Intelligence, the name “Condor” was unanimously approved following a motion presented by the Uruguayan delegation, in recognition of the host country.

This transnational network of repressive cooperation allowed the dictatorships to coordinate clandestine operations to locate, monitor, kidnap, torture, and assassinate exiled individuals who continued to denounce the regimes in power from abroad. The relatives of disappeared individuals and refugees were also targeted, even if they were not politically active, and were identified as threats by the repressive apparatuses.

 

 

Note N° 74/1972, dated 26 January 1972, sent from the Uruguayan Embassy in Chile to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr José A. Mora Otero, expressing the need to appoint Military, Naval, and Air Attachés before the Government of Chile, considering the arrival in that country of Uruguayan citizens involved in subversive activities.

Location: Department of the Historical and Diplomatic Archive – Section: Embassy of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay in Chile / Series: Confidential Documents / Year 1972 / Box 77 / Folder 9.

Telex C299/24, dated 28 June 1973, sent from the Uruguayan Embassy in the Republic of Argentina to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Juan Carlos Blanco, requesting directives on how to proceed when Uruguayan citizens, who have been granted political asylum from the Argentine government, come to the Uruguayan Consular offices in Argentina, as well as regarding citizens who are wanted in Uruguay.

Location: Department of the Historical and Diplomatic Archive – Section: Embassy of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay in Argentina / Series: Confidential Documents / Year 1973 / Box 1 / Folder A.

Note H12/1975 (1827), dated 25 November 1975, sent from the Uruguayan Embassy in the Republic of Argentina to the Consular Offices, forwarding the directives received notifying the cancellation of the passports of Uruguayan citizens Wilson Ferreira Aldunate, Zelmar Michelini and Héctor Gutiérrez Ruíz. It moreover requests the transmission of that information to the Federal Police, the Migration Directorate, and other Consular Offices in the Republic in Argentina.

Location: Department of the Historical and Diplomatic Archive – Section: Embassy of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay in Argentina / Series: Confidential Documents / Year 1975 / Box 1 / Folder H12.

Telex (Transcription) C265 and C266, dated 12 December 1975, sent from the Embassy of Uruguay in the United States (URUWASHI) to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DIPLOMACY) reporting on the meetings that Senator Wilson Ferreira Aldunate had requested with government authorities.

Location: Department of the Historical and Diplomatic Archive – Section: Embassy of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay in the United States / Series: Ciphered Telex Received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Year 1975 / Box 52 / Folder 4.

Telex C299/24, dated 2 June 1976, sent from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (“Diplomacy”) to the Uruguayan Embassy in the Republic of Argentina with reference to the actions undertaken by that Diplomatic Mission and its Consular Section in offering consular assistance to Uruguayan citizens. Furthermore, instructions are given on how to proceed with the case of Uruguayans wanted by national authorities, by providing their transfer to the Republic.

Location: Department of the Historical and Diplomatic Archive – Section: Embassy of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay in Argentina / Series: Confidential Documents / Year 1976 / Box 3 / Folder H3-2 p.II.

Memorandum, dated 2 July 1976, regarding the conduct to be undertaken in the context of “the Venezuela case” – the possible actions to be implemented and the analysis of the repercussions that each of them could imply for Uruguay from an international relations perspective. This document relates to the abduction of the Uruguayan citizen Elena Quinteros from the grounds of the Venezuelan Embassy in Montevideo on June 28, 1976.

The document is missing its final page, which can be seen in another copy of the document.

Version 1 – Location: Administrative Archive – Section: Embassy of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay in Venezuela / Series: Documents compiled regarding the “Breaking of Diplomatic Relations with Venezuela” / Year 1976 / Box 3 / Incomplete document.

Memorandum, dated 2 July 1976, regarding the conduct to be undertaken in the context of “the Venezuela case” – the possible actions to be implemented and the analysis of the repercussions that each of them could imply for Uruguay from an international relations perspective. This document relates to the abduction of the Uruguayan citizen Elena Quinteros from the grounds of the Venezuelan Embassy in Montevideo on June 28, 1976.

There is a more legible copy of this document, although it is missing a page.

Version 2 - Location: Department of the Historical and Diplomatic Archive – “Administrative Investigation into the abduction of Elena Quinteros, established by R.M. No. 201/87 on August 11, 1987, and conducted by Dr Luján Flores de Sapriza – Single box / Piece 1 / Pages 74 to 81. Documentation donated by Dr Milton Romani.

Confidential Note 001/77, dated 21 January 1977, sent from the Embassy of Uruguay in the United States (URUWASHI) to the State Department of the United States, expressing the withdrawal of the proposed appointments of Colonel Fons and Major Gavazzo to positions to be held in that country.

Location: Department of the Historical and Diplomatic Archive – Section: Embassy of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay in the United States / Series: Confidential Notes / Year 1977 / Box 7 / Folder 5.

Memo N° 87/6/VII/979, dated 6 July 1979, submitted by the Navy Attaché of the Uruguayan Embassy in the Republic of Argentina to the Uruguayan Ambassador of said Diplomatic Mission, sending the military passport of Navy Lieutenant (CG) Jorge Tróccoli to process the visa extension due to his stay in Argentina. It moreover reports the forwarding of the certificate of stay issued by the Naval Mechanics School (ESMA), where the Navy Lieutenant is currently serving.

Location: Department of the Historical and Diplomatic Archive – Section: Embassy of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay in Argentina / Year 1979 / Box 7 / Folder G 7-5-1 “Officials of the Uruguayan Armed Forces granted scholarships in the Republic of Argentina.”

Telex A 120, dated 1 August 1979, sent from the Uruguayan Embassy in Chile (URUSANTI) to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DIPLOMACY) informing the dissemination of an allegation regarding the abduction and subsequent re-appearance in the city of Valparaíso of the children Anatole and “Lucía” Victoria Julien Grisonas.

Location: Department of the Historical and Diplomatic Archive – Section: Embassy of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay in Chile / Series: Telex / Year 1979 / Box 19 / Folder 9.