Roundtable - 50 Years after Operation Condor (Hybrid event)

This is a hybrid event, please select the correct ticket type depending on how you will be joining the event, with in-person tickets limited due to the size of the venue.

This roundtable brings together lawyers and academics to reflect on the 50th anniversary of the official founding meeting of Operation Condor. Set up in November 1975 by Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, this transnational terror network facilitated the persecution of political dissidents in South America and beyond, with a legacy of 800+ victims. The discussion will focus on recent developments in the investigations on Operation Condor, including judicial proceedings and the use of digital technologies to democratise access to information.

Speakers:

Karinna Fernández Neira, lawyer in the Chilean Operation Condor trials and human rights defender

Professor Philippe Sands, Professor of Law and Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals, UCL

Dr Sebastián Smart, Senior Research Fellow, ARU

Dr Francesca Lessa, Associate Professor in International Relations of the Americas, UCL (chair)

Speakers' biographies:

Karinna Fernández Neira is a leading Chilean lawyer and human rights defender. She has a wealth of experience litigating cases relating to the Chilean dictatorship, contemporary human rights violations, and corruption before Chilean courts, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Professor Philippe Sands (UCL) is the author of (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2025) and (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016). He represented Human Rights Watch in the landmark proceedings against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet following his arrest in London in 1998.

Dr Sebastián Smart (ARU) is a Chilean lawyer who has worked in academia, NGOs, and the Chilean National Human Rights Institution on state violence, memory, and accountability. He has also collaborated with various regional and international organisations. He is the editor of (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025).

Dr Francesca Lessa (UCL) is the author of (Yale University Press, 2022) and (Reservoir Books, 2025, 2nd edition) with Sebastián Santana Camargo. She is the coordinator of the Plancondor.org Project at UCL.

This event is co-sponsored by the Recent History and Memory Section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) and the Plancondor.org Project.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Room 103, 51 Gordon Sq, 51 Gordon Square, London, United Kingdom