State Terrorism: South America during the 1970s. A case of State Terrorism Transnationalization

Abstract

During the 1970s, for the first time in the political history of the Southern Cone, supranation-al integration between the different dictatorships of the region took place. These intensified state repressive action, putting into operation a counterrevolutionary state war machine with a clear desire for liquidation, which reached an objective realization through the disappear-ance of people and the spread of terror. As a result of this process, which knew no national boundaries or ideological boundaries, there was a massive violation of human rights; on the other hand, and from this, in the field of social sciences the conceptualization of State terror-ism was used before its conceptual precision allowed for unicity of criteria. This article pre-sents a theoretical conceptual reflection to advance the understanding of the specific mecha-nisms of the emergence, expansion and transnationalization of State terrorism. With the con-crete study of the Operation Condor, which fully demonstrated the integration of the dictator-ships of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.