Operation Condor

This project tackles for the first time the transnational dimension to past human rights violations, which were perpetrated by South America’s dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s. Adopting a three-part methodology, which combines archival research, analysis of legal documents, and targeted interviews, the project studies transnational human rights violations committed between 1970 and 1981 within the framework of Operation Condor and beyond. It is also probing the response by domestic justice systems to these cross-border atrocities.

My name is Francesca Lessa and I am the project's principal investigator. I am Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the Latin American Centre (LAC), University of Oxford. Before embarking on this Fellowship, I spent 16 months in Buenos Aires, monitoring the Operation Condor trial. I joined the LAC in early 2011 and have been involved in various research projects relating to human rights and transitional justice. I have a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics. My most recent publications include ¿Justicia o impunidad? Cuentas pendientes en el Uruguay post-dictadura and Memory and Transitional Justice in Argentina and Uruguay: Against Impunity.