When the Condor plan arrived in Europe: the trip of the agents of the Argentine and Uruguayan dictatorships to Paris to act against the exiles

L & # 39; operator this was unsuccessful because the mission information would have been filtered, according to the CIA telegram dated March 1977, but that's one of the main Few operations in Europe the so-called Condor Plan, a "co-operative" and clandestine security services of the various South American dictatorships to fight against guerrilla warfare and subversion in the 1970s, of which there is a record.

Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia were the main members of this initiative, which would have started in 1974 and was formalized in 1976, and which included a thorough exchange of information and execution of joint operations in the territories of the participants.

The impact of the Condor Plan was such that the intelligence agencies of the The United Kingdom, France and West Germany even wanted to learn from their repressive tactics and their clandestine cooperation in order to deal with European guerrilla groups. according to a series of declbadified cables cited by The Guardian.

But anyway, Plan Condor itself then showed cracks when Argentina, Chile and Uruguay were in favor of carrying out actions in Europe, where many South American guerrilla and subversive groups had propaganda and coordination offices or remained in exile. Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, however, did not participate in this initiative.

The training center for these agents was set up in Argentina (Condor 1) and it is believed that a team ofThe Argentines and the Uruguayans went to Paris at the beginning of December 1976 to act against the "Uruguayan terrorists", according to the declbadified cable.

After the failure attributed to a mission leak, Uruguay expressed doubts about the possibility of planning new operations of this type.

The type of action that these agents were going to perform in Paris was unclear, although the CIA cable cited a report according to which the activities of the members of the Cóndor Plan outside their territories would be "confined to the collection of information". Although without excluding others "unspecified actions" against "extremists abroad", with notice to the local security services.

Another cable of the CIA, dated May 1976, is less ambiguous and emphasizes that, at a conference of members of Plan Cóndor in Santiago de Chile, the formation of a special team formed to conduct "physical attacks" against members of the Revolutionary Coordination Council (JCR) has been proposed, an internationalist organization formed by the People's Revolutionary Army (Argentina), the Revolutionary Left Movement (Chile), the National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros (Uruguay) and the National Liberation Army (Bolivia).

Under the name "Teseo", this unit would be formed in Argentina and would be specialized in operations in Europe. To this end, each member of Plan Condor had agreed to send two agents to Buenos Aires in September 1976, in addition to providing money and equipment for operations.

The cable ensures that training has taken place, although this indicates not having reports on the shipping agents in Europe.

It was not clear either if all the member countries of the Condor Plan had sent their representatives to Buenos Aires, and quotes the rejection of Bolivia, whose military government has argued that violent actions abroad they could generate an unfavorable international reaction against these countries of South America.

Although on the other side The Bolivian intelligence services are attributed with the badbadination of former military officer Joaquin Zenteno Anaya, precisely in Paris, in 1976 and as part of a series of internal purges, according to a 2017 survey released by UNESCO and the CIPDH. Zenteno Anaya had been one of those responsible for the operation during which the Argentine guerrilla Ernesto "Che" Guevara had died in 1967 and had been murdered in the French capital where he had served as a diplomat after to have come into conflict with the dictator Hugo Banzer. The act was attributed at the time to a guerrilla group.

A third cable dated 12 August 1976 states that Brazil "has not yet agreed to participate in operations in Europe" and that, therefore, the remaining members would have slowed down the deployment of the units, although they continued the training. It was not clear whether this meant the collapse of the project or confirmed the intention of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay to continue alone.

Subsequent cables even refer to Brazil's virtual withdrawal from the Condor Plan in October 1977, when Brasilia has decided not to send anyone to the top of the member countries in Buenos Aires.

A fourth cable, dated May 1977, ensures that the failure of "Theseus" was due to the Condor plan, though secret to the public, He was known to security and intelligence services around the world.

In this declbadified document, the intentions of "Theseus" are further clarified. "The fundamental mission of the Condor groups sent abroad is apparently to" liquidate "the top-level terrorist leaders." Non-terrorists would also be candidates for the badbadination: the Uruguayan opposition politician Wilson Ferreira, when he went to Europe, Amnesty International is cited as a targetsays the declbadified text.

In the case of Ferreira, influential politician of the national party, he would have been removed from the "blacklist". for his contacts with US lawmakers.

He is also mentioned the project to send a special team to London, UK, disguised as businessmen, to monitor the "suspicious activities" in Europe, as well as an effort to collect material on human rights groups in "identify and expose their socialist and Marxist relations".

These cables, reports, reports and documents from the CIA and other US intelligence agencies have been declbadified and officially handed over to the Argentine government on April 12. SIt covers 5,596 records with a total of 43,472 pages on the events that occurred between 1975 and 1984, now available.