Operation Condor: Eliminating Political Opposition in South America

In 1975, at the height of the Cold War, six Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay) then ruled by right wing military dictatorships, created Operation Condor. It was a joint secret military plan aimed at eliminating political opponents using common resources, exchanging information, prisoners and torture techniques. From the Amazon jungle in Brazil to the cold open lands of Patagonia, thousands of victims still lie buried in unmarked graves, while the survivors struggle to cope with their own memories. Forty years later, Pina set out to build a visual evidence on how the remnants of Condor can still be seen and felt in the region.
João Pina is a Portuguese born photographer, who has worked most of his career in Latin America documenting human rights abuses and political turmoil. Graduated from the International Center of Photography’s Photojournalism and Documentary Photography program in New York in 2005, he has published four monographs. Por teu Livre pensamento (2007) featuring 25 former Portuguese political prisoners, Condor (2014) documenting the crimes in South America perpetrated by the military dictatorships during the Dirty War years, 46750 (2018) about the endemic violence in the city of Rio de Janeiro and Tarrafal (2024) a visual memory of his family and the history of the Portuguese concentration camp Tarrafal in Cape Verde.
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