Approved for Public Release 8 December 2016 9 Hay 1977 SUBJECT Counterterrorism in the Southern Cone I I I II i l The sec rity forces of Argentina Bol ivia Brazil Chile araguay and Uruguay have for some ti me engaged in a fonna1 i zed exchange of information on leftist terrorists Moreover these gover r ments jointly c rry out operations against subver sives on each other's soil This effort dubbed Operation Condor is not pub1i c1y known One aspect of the prog ram involving Chile Uruguay and Argentina envisages i l lega l operations outside Latin Ame ri ca against exiled terrorists pa r ticul ar ly in Europe Because the existence of Condor is kn Q_wn to foreism security services such activities have so far been frustrated The extent of cooperat io n i n Condor is unusual in Latin America even though the exchange of intelligence info rmat i cn by governments facing a common prcblem is a routine pract i ce throughou t the world i ' The military- controlled governments ·of the Southern Cone alI consider Having endured re l a nd perceived threats from leftist terror ists these governments t2li ve that th very founda ti ons of their societies arethreatened In m o st cases government leaders seek to be selective in the pursuit a d apprehe nsi on of suspected s ubvers fves b t co nt rol over security forces gene r i 1ly is not tight enough to prevent innocents from being harmed or mistre t ­ Cultural and historic2l developme nts in the region go a l ong way tcwa rd explaining if not justifying the often harsh methods In Hispanic l a1·1 for instance a suspect i s presumed guilty until proven innocent In addition most Latin A 1erican constitutions have pr-ovi s i on s f or states of seige or other emer0e ncy clauses which greatly increase th e gove rn m n ts ' powers of arrest detention Jn censorship i There i s a long history of bil a t eral efforts to control s bv2rsion in the Sou t hern Cone count r ies The reg ional appr oach eventual l y formal ized in Condor however oPpdrently wa s endor·s ed i n early 1974 when secu r ity offi ci als f rom all of the member countries except Brazi l agreed to establi sh lioison cha nnels and to facilitate the movement of sec ur i ty officers on government business f r om one country to the other · · themselves t argets of international M r xism I · Among the initial aims of Condor was the exchange of i nformation on the Revo lutiona ry Coordinating Ju nta JCR an organization believed to consist of representatbes of terroris t groups from Bolivia Uru guay Approved for Public Release 8 December 2016 Chile ArgPntind 2nd P raguay The JCR coordi te ctivitie s member Thf' IJnt a nnd provides pro pJ 'lnda end logis t i cal support fer i s has rep resenta ti ves in Europe and they are be lieved t o have been invol ve-d i n the assa ssi na t ions in Paris of the Bo li vian ambassador to France l ast f1ay and a n Urugua an mil itary attache i n 1974 The attache had been i nvolved i n the succe ssful campaign to suppress Ur ugu ay's terrorist Tupa aro s a member gr oup of JCR i Condor's overa1T campaign against subvers i on reportedly as intens if ied l ast summer 1vhen members gathered i n Santiago t o organ ize mo re detailed long -ran ge plans Decisions included The development of a basic computerized data bank in San·tiago All members will contribute information on known or suspected terrorists Brazil ag reed to provide ·g ear for Condortel'' ··- t he group's communications network I The basic mis s ion of Condo r te ams to be sent ove rs eas r eportedly was to liq uidate t op- leve l terrorist leaders Non-terrorists l so were reportedl y candidat s for assassination Uruguayan oppositi ci8 politician Wilso n Ferreira i f he should travel to Europe and some l ead r s of l mnest r Internat ion •· P re tr e ntioned as t a r ge ts Ferre ira may hi'l' 'e heen r er o ved from th e 1 ist however because he is conside red to h 1v good con t a cts among US c on res5 Jen A training cou rs e •t as held in f1uenos Aires for th e team he adin9 o•1erseas Mo r e recently Condon leaders 1•1ere cons ide rin g the di spatch of a team to London -- disguised as businessmen - to monito r s uspic io us activity in Europe Anotj er proposal under study inclu ded the collecti tn of material on th e membership loca t on 2nd politi cal acti vi t ies of human rights groups in order to iden tify and expose their sociulist and l·larxist connections Similar data repo rtr dly are to be coll ect ed on church and third-world groups Evidence although not conclusive indicates th a t cooperation among sec urity forces in the Sou thern Cone exte nd s beyond legal methods last Hay for example c r ed me n r dn acked the offices of t he Argentin e Catholic Commission o n Irr mior tion and stol e rec ord s containina i nform Hion on thousand s of refu 1ees Jnd ir lTTi i gr ants The Ar gentine police did not investigate t he cri r e --a signal that latin refugees prin c i pally from Ch i le 2nd Uruguay were no lange welcome A mon th l ate r 24 Chilean an d lh·uguay refu gees m3ny of v1hom 1vere t he subjects of commissi on files were kidnapp ed and tort ured After their re leas e some of the r ef11gees insisted 2 Approved for Public Release 8 December 2016 their interro0 1tors ·i' re security officers from Ch i le Dn c Urug uay 1 of UruquJ i 1 1S 'Jere held in Buenos Ai res last swr m r for t m weeks and th n fl o r 1- ontcvideo i n an Uruguayan plane Uruguayan mi litary officers off e red to spctre them their 1 i ves if th ey wou 1d r19n e to a ll ov1 themselves to be 'captured '' by authorities -- as if they we re an armed group attempting to invade the country Moreover b-10 nrominent political exiles in l'1r genti na here killed under mysterious circumstances numb r to Condor also is engaged in non-violent activities including psychological · a rfare and a pr opaganda campaign These programs heavily use the nedio to pu bli cize crimes and atrocities committed by terrorists By appealing to national pride and the national conscience these programs aim to secure· the support of the citizenry i n the hope t hey 1 ill report anything out of the ordinary in their neighborhoods Propaganda campai ns are constructed so that one member country publ ishes info rmation useful t o another -- Hithout revealing that the beneficiary was in foct th e source For example Bo l ivia and Argentina reportedly are plann i ng to launch a campaign against the Catholic Church and other religious qroups that allegedly support leftist movements Bolivia will col lect information on the groups and then send i t to Argentina for publication The Condor communications system J JSes Member countrie s communicate via radio and an open channe l voice ecur ty at on or s ope rat ons center Aires and compartmentation has been increas ed In addition once a Cond or member has dec lined to participate in an operation he · exc l uded from ull f tn-ther details of that p Bolivi y not be n Buenos Outside the Condor umbrella bilateral cooperation between other security organi zations i n the region also is stron-g · For·-example intel l igence organ i zations in Argenti na Uruguay and Chile work together close 1Y Each security organization assigns advisers to the other countri primarily to identify subversives in exi le 3 cate -