Photograph. Martha Passeggi
In June 2020, the project “Operation Condor: Accountability for Transnational Crimes in South America” by the LAC’s Marie Curie Fellow, Dr Francesca Lessa, was included in the final shortlist of highly-ranked entries by which the judges were very impressed of the 2020 Vice Chancellor’s Innovation Awards of the University of Oxford. The panel agreed that the Operation Condor project was “strong, rooted in research and with significant impacts, and an incredible exemplar of research.” The project now features in the Oxford Impact Case Studies series on the University webpage at this link: https://www.ox.ac.uk/research/research-impact/operation-condor
Further, on July 27, 2020, the Argentine daily newspaper Página12 published a lengthy interview with Dr Lessa, in which she outlined some of the preliminary findings of the Operation Condor project and, particularly, the novel database on South America’s Transnational Human Rights Violations that she has been compiling since 2017. The full interview can be read at this link: https://www.pagina12.com.ar/281127-plan-condor-argentina-es-el-pais-que-mas-avanzo-en-el-juzgam
The following article on “Operation Condor: the illegal state network that terrorised South America,” which was published the 3rd of September 2020 in The Guardian’s long read section, by journalist Giles Tremlett was written with the help of Dr Francesca Lessa. It is an important piece that recounts the enduring search for justice by victims and their relatives for some of South America’s darkest crimes.