Former Uruguayan Navy Commander Receives Second Life Sentence for Operation Condor Crimes

Rome: A 78-year-old former Uruguayan navy commander was handed a second life sentence by the Rome Assize Court on Tuesday for his involvement in the kidnapping and murder of three Italo-Uruguayan citizens during the infamous Operation Condor in 1976 and 1977. This ruling follows an earlier life sentence issued this year for his role in the disappearance of about 20 other individuals during the same period.

According to Ansa News Agency, Jorge Nestor Troccoli was found guilty of the murders of Raffaella Giuliana Filippazzi, Augustin Potenza, and Elena Quinteros. These crimes were part of Operation Condor, a coordinated campaign of political repression carried out by the right-wing military dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America. The operation involved intelligence activities, coups, and targeted assassinations of left-wing sympathizers.

Troccoli, who is currently incarcerated following his previous life sentence, was a key figure in the execution of the Condor Plan. The operation, which formally existed from 1975 until 1983, was orchestrated by Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s spy chief, Manuel Contreras. He convened 50 intelligence officers from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay at the Army War Academy in Santiago, Chile, to establish the framework for this covert operation.

Operation Condor was notably supported by the United States, which provided financial backing for its clandestine activities. It officially concluded with the collapse of the Argentine military junta in 1983. The exact death toll attributed to Operation Condor remains a matter of dispute due to its secretive nature, although estimates suggest at least 60,000 people were killed, with up to 9,000 of those deaths occurring in Argentina.