For scholar McSherry, following the 2001 September 11[i] attacks and the ‘War on Terror’ the U.S instituted the same tactics as Condor. As she put it: “We witnessed the use by US counterterrorist forces of disappearances, cross-border renditions, torture, secret ‘black sites’ located in other countries, and so on, approved by civilian authorities… all of these methods characterized Operation Condor.”[ii] Shane T. McCoy, U.S. Navy (11 January 2002). Camp X-Ray detainees [Photo

Martin Almada amongst the Archives of Terror upon its discovery. In 1974 Martin Almada was a left-wing teacher in Asuncion Paraguay fighting for better pay and conditions. That work, along with having read a book by Brazilian Marxist educator Paulo Freire made him a target of the secret police who came to arrest him in his classroom. Almada recalls the charge with a laugh, arrested for being both an “intellectual terrorist and ignoramus.” [i]  For one month he was brutally t

Above: Women Demand Justice!, n.d., Embroidered textile, 14 ¼ x 18 inches, Courtesy of Mario Avendaño [Photograph]. Arpilleras: Online resistance MOLAA. Below: Aurora Ortiz. (Photo: Martin Melaugh) 'La cueca sola / Dancing cueca alone',(1st April 2016) Memorial da América Latina, São Paulo, Brasil Paradoxically the brutal repression of the military dictatorships pushed women into new and different roles becoming more politically active as their husbands, brothers and sons wer

***The following post contains graphic depictions of torture, sexual abuse and murder.*** The scale and scope of the Dirty Wars in South America is still debated due to the destruction of evidence and the time that has passed. Human rights groups estimate across South America as many as 50,000 were killed and as many as 400,000 were tortured and imprisoned. [i] Around 30,000 of those killed were ‘ disappeared’ (victims are known as ‘the disappeared’ Spanish: L os Desapareci

Bettmann / Contributor (1973). Santiago, Chile: An armed guard watches prisoners of the Pinochet regime [Photograph]. Getty Images. Days after the Chilean coup, detention centres sprung up around country aimed to arrest and dispose of ‘subversives’ really anyone opposed to the dictatorship. One of the most infamous was Estadio Nacional in Santiago. During September and November, a dissection of Chilean society was held there: teachers, students, workers, artists, peasants, j

Did the U.S co-ordinate the Chilean Coup of 1973? Trigger Warning: The following article contains images (blurred) of physical and sexual torture. Left Chilean Army troops positioned on a rooftop fire on the La Moneda Palace 11 September 1973 in Santiago .   AFP via Getty Images (1973). Chilean army troops positioned on a rooftop fire on the La Moneda presidential palace [Photograph]. Getty Images Right Tanks in front of the National Congress (1964) of Brazil.   Agência Senad

No country can open its doors to this class of criminal and still sleep soundly. No nation crosses these dark boundaries of history with impunity.” – Argentine Journalist and writer Tomás Eloy Martínez [i]  Savvy fascists could see the defeat of Italy and Germany even before the end of World War Two. As the Third Reich collapsed there was a mad scramble between the allies for German technology and minds, each was willing to excise the records of the most useful and less inf

Chef Anthony Bourdain wrote in his books: “Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands." The same can be said if you visited Argentina or Chile. This infographic identifies some of the key figures of Condor in Latin America such as Pinochet, Videla, Stroessner, Kissinger and Contreras Poster: Notable figures, images from left to right. Chas Gerretsen (19 September 1973). General Augusto Pinochet  [Photograph].

"A terrorist is not just someone with a gun or a bomb, but also someone who spreads ideas that are contrary to Western and Christian...