Switzerland at the Heart of a Far-Reaching Surveillance Network Facilitating the United States-Backed Operation Condor by Ramona Wadi!
(2020-02-24 at 13:34:03 )

Switzerland at the Heart of a Far-Reaching Surveillance Network Facilitating the United States-Backed Operation Condor by Ramona Wadi!

The atrocities of Operation Condor - the United States-backed covert plan by Argentina, Chile, Brazil Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia to eliminate left-wing influence in Latin America - have been gradually revealed through declassified documents that detail the diplomatic manoeuvring and state terror that left tens of thousands of people killed, tortured and disappeared.

Argentina is estimated to have the highest death toll with over 30,000 dictatorship opponents killed and disappeared. The Videla dictatorship in Argentina worked in close collaboration with Chiles dictator Augusto Pinochet, who had ushered in a violent neoliberal experiment in Chile and a far reaching network of international surveillance to keep tabs on, and eliminate, any traces of organised resistance to the dictatorship that had the potential to form abroad.

United States intelligence was deeply involved in the propping of dictatorships in Latin America in particular after Chiles Unidad Popular led by Salvador Allende triumphed at the polls.

Declassified documents have shown that the United States knew about the tactics used by the Argentinian dictatorship - emulated after Chiles practice of disappearing opponents into the ocean, packaged and thrown off helicopters provided by the United States In some cases, the death flights also served as a murder practice - some victims were thrown into the ocean drugged, yet still alive.

Recently, it has also been revealed that United States intelligence surveillance over the extent of human rights violations in Latin America was aided by Germany and Switzerland. A Swiss company, Crypto AG, was jointly owned by the United States and West Germany. The company was then acquired by the participating countries in Operation Condor and later incorporated into the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) technology.

News reports have revealed that the Swiss government was knowledgeable about the CIA operations conducted through Crypto AG, which makes the country complicit in the dealings of Operation Condor and sheds doubt about Switzerlands purported political neutrality, a stance which has enabled it to embrace duplicity and serve both oppressor and the oppressed.

Eventually, the surveillance technology targeted over 100 countries. Swiss media have reported that along with Sweden, Israel and Britain, Switzerland was privy to the information compiled through the operation. The Swiss government has launched an investigation into the case and the companys licence has been suspended.

Among the intelligence gathered by the United States through the surveillance programme was the plan for the assassination of Chilean diplomat and ambassador to the United States in the Allende era, Orlando Letelier, who was murdered by a car bomb in Washington,D.C. in 1976. Michael Townley, a CIA agent who also worked for the Pinochet dictatorships National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) was responsible for placing the bomb underneath Mr. Leteliers vehicle. The murder was directly ordered by Mr. Pinochet. Operation Silence, in which efforts were made to prevent judges from investigating dictatorship crimes in the 1990s, resulted in the murder of Townleys DINA partner, Eugenio Berrios, a chemist tasked with producing sarin gas for the dictatorship. Mr. Berrioss body was discovered, heavily mutilated, in Uruguay, thus eliminating the possibility of further evidence being given in the Letelier case.

The link between Chile and Argentina in terms of dictatorship cooperation to eliminate opponents resulted in the killing and disappearance of Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) militants.

Revelations regarding Crypto AG will likely add to the level of United States complicity in Operation Condor, apart from other forms of political violence globally which were aided by the CIA. In Latin America, particularly given the current turbulence from coups, such as in the case of Bolivia, to popular mobilisation as we are seeing in Chile, the news regarding surveillance is likely to have an impact on both current happenings and in terms of the regions collective memory.

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