On 4 November Argentina’s defence minister, Augustín Rossi, announced that a clean-up of old military files had uncovered a series of ‘blacklists’ with the names of artists and journalists considered ‘uncooperative’ by Argentina’s last military government (1976-1983). Along with the other military governments in the Southern Cone at the time, Argentina launched the infamous ‘Plan Cóndor’, a regional intelligence-sharing operation begun in the mid-1970s that allowed the authoritarian right-wing governments to systematically target and persecute government opponents regardless of where they lived.
Rossi said that the documents were part of a large file collection discovered in the basement of the air force headquarters – otherwise known as ‘the Cóndor’ building. According to Rossi, the list classified dissidents according to the strength of their links to Marxist politics. Artists and journalists were ranked on one of four levels, reflecting their potential danger to the military regime. Anyone ranked level one was considered an “inoffensive” individual, but those ranked level four were considered to be of “dangerous” nature and were marked out to be ‘marginalised’. This might include denying them employment offers, job promotions and scholarships.
According to Rossi, a special armed forces unit, Equipo Compatibilizador Interfuerzas (ECI), was tasked with monitoring and classifying suspected dissidents. The minister also noted that Plan Cóndor apparently was conceived of as long-term project, with a view to managing a gradual return to democracy by the year 2000. As part of this, the documents suggested that the restrictions placed on some of the most ‘dangerous’ individuals would also be relaxed over time, allowing them to slowly reincorporate back into public and political life.
Some of the more recognisable names on the blacklists included the late singer-songwriter and poet María Elena Walsh; the late novelist Julio Cortázar; actors Norman Briski and Federico Luppi; and musicians Víctor Heredia and the late Mercedes Sosa. Significantly, the name of the Argentine film maker-turned politician, Fernando ‘Pino’ Solanas (now a senator-elect), also appeared on the list.
- Plan Condór
The governments of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay all participated in Plan Condór. Political dissidents in the region have also accused the US government, and specifically the former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, of tacit or active involvement in the intelligence operations.
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