Argentina: Operation Condor trial starts

A trial with pan-American importance has started in Argentina, focusing on Operation Condor, the cooperation network between South America states to persecute (perceived and actual) dissidents.

Former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla is one of the defendants, alongside 24 others, including a Uruguayan accused of commiting torture in the Argentine clandestine detention centre, Automotores Orletti. Orletti was a Condor base in Argentina and, thus, many of the non-Argentine victims of the junta ended up there.

Like the ESMA megatrial, this case has symbolic importance. It is also likely to drag on, as all major oral trials do in Argentina, and of course the majority of the defendants are very old. However, the key will be to shed light on the workings of the clandestine partnership between the South American countries.


Comienza el juicio por los crímenes del Plan Cóndor (this article from Spanish El País includes a full list of the victims in the case, as well as the defendants)
El plan de la represión sin fronteras (Pagina/12)
Operation Condor on Trial in Argentina (IPS)