Quito, March 28 (teleSUR-RHC) A recently declassified CIA document reveals that Ecuador — like many countries of South America — was part of the U.S.-backed Condor Operation, which took hold of the region from the 1970s to mid-1980s.
The document states that Ecuador became part of Condor Operation in 1978, joining dictatorships of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay in endorsing state-sponsored terror to control what was perceived to be the threat of communism and eliminate subversive sectors of society.
Ecuador’s attorney general office is currently investigating if the 1981 plane crash that killed President Jaime Roldos was part of the plan, as leftist leaders were targeted throughout the region. Attorney General Galo Chiriboga told press, "We asked for documents in the United States to be declassified, in particular a CIA document, which establishes that Ecuador was part of Condor Operation.
With this information, we are going to examine whether the accident which killed President Roldos was in fact an accident or not." The three-page CIA document says that Ecuador's intelligence services, along with the army, navy and air force, agreed to gather and share information with other states, monitor telecommunications and engage in psychological warfare as part of the plan.
It also outlines Ecuador's relationship with Argentine and Chilean officials who installed telecommunications systems in the country, and offered scholarships and training to the Ecuadorean military.
"They financed an entire network of people to work in their interests. They wanted to destroy communism, and affect the position of sovereignty of Ecuador to break its relations with Cuba. This was not good. This caused us a lot of damage. It is the period that the left experienced the greatest repression,” said journalist Francisco Herrera Arauz, who recently coauthored the book “The CIA Against Latin America, Special Case of Ecuador,” which examines interventions throughout the period.
The countries of Condor Operation agreed to share information, and work to eliminate leftist groups within their own countries, as well as persecute those seeking refuge abroad. Condor Operation knew no borders, as death squads, infiltrators and extra-judicial killings were rampant throughout the region.
Through investigations of the death of President Jaime Roldos, the cases of the Alfaro Vive ¡Carajo! and other affected individuals and groups, Ecuador and the other countries making up this plan are working to uncover the truth of this period and provide justice for those victims of crimes against humanity.
