With the continued release of previously classified or hidden documents, we are starting to understand more about Operation Condor, the coordinated effort developed by five South American dictatorships to terrorize and exterminate their political opponents in the mid-1970s. Founded in 1975 by the Chilean military government of Augusto Pinochet, it was responsible for intelligence sharing and murders across the continent. Fernando López's exhaustively researched book aims to provide a fresh perspective on the existing literature (especially the work of J. Patrice McSherry, who wrote the preface).
The book has three intertwined arguments. First, these countries had much greater difficulty joining forces than typically realized. Second, the role of civilians—from both the Left and the Right—needs more attention. Third, the militaries intentionally overstated the threat posed by the Junta de Coordinación Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Coordinating Group, or JCR), a regional unified Marxist guerrilla force. Instead, the primary goal of the endeavor was...