MATIAS JOFRE

Link Access

This article outlines how the United States shaped post–World War II politics in Latin America by backing military coups, training authoritarian leaders at the School of the Americas, and helping establish Operation Condor — a coordinated system of right-wing dictatorships responsible for cross-border kidnappings, torture, and political assassinations. Beginning in 1975, Condor linked regimes in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and disappearances. The piece argues that U.S. economic and geopolitical interests—not democracy—drove these interventions, and that the region’s push for social reforms was repeatedly crushed through U.S.-supported repression.