WOLA is pleased to invite you to a discussion on
Operation Condor on Trial:
Accountability for Transnational Crimes in South America
Featuring
Francesca Lessa
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow
Latin American Centre, Oxford University
and
John Dinges
Godfrey Lowell Cabot Professor Emeritus
Columbia Journalism School, Columbia University
Moderated by
Jo-Marie Burt
WOLA Senior Fellow
Associate Professor of Political Science and Latin American Studies
Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Washington Office on Latin America
1666 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20009
For more information, please contact Caroline Buhse at cbuhse@wola.org or (202) 797-2171.
In the mid-1970s, the dictatorial regimes in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay created Operation Condor, a secret transnational network dedicated to hunting down left-wing opponents across borders in South America and beyond. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Operation Condor was responsible for hundreds of instances of torture, kidnappings, murders, disappearances, and even the appropriation of children. This event will map the scope of Operation Condor atrocities and provide an overview of the status of accountability efforts undertaken to respond to these cross-border human rights violations. Panelists will analyze in detail two historic prosecutions—held in Argentina and Italy—which brought Operation Condor to trial. These proceedings, whose origins date back to 1999, demonstrate how justice entrepreneurs (such as lawyers, human rights activities, and victims’ relatives) could eventually achieve justice, successfully overcoming factual or legal barriers standing in the way of accountability.
