Robert Scherrer
Robert William Scherrer (August 21, 1935 Brooklyn, New York – November 15, 1995)[1][2][3] was an FBI agent posted in Latin America in the 1970s. Named by journalist John Dinges as an "intelligence centre all by himself",[4] he had extensive sources in the intelligence communities and military across the countries of the Southern Cone, and was one of the agents transmitting information from local intelligence sources to the United States as part of Operation Condor. He later participated in investigations relating to Condor's international killings, and is one of John Dinges' sources.[5] He was the person who, in 1979, revealed the existence of "phase 3" of Operation Condor, the programme of international assassinations.[6]
Mission
Born in Brooklyn, and of German-Irish heritage, Robert Scherrer spoke Spanish almost perfectly, and had a mission to ensure the international police cooperation of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia.[4] All of these countries were under military dictatorship since at least 1973, except Argentina, who had a brief civil intermediary period between the March 1973 Argentine general election and the National Reorganization Process, and collaborated with Operation Condor.
"Officially in charge of legal affairs at the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires" in 1975, he had been in post for six years,[4] and travelled regularly to Paraguay, where he personally knew General Benito Guanes, Head of G2 (Intelligence Service of Staff) and Pastor Coronel, head of the DIPC.[4]
In 1979, the head of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, Manuel Contreras, declared in a judicial deposition that Robert Scherrer was: "in permanent contact with [the Condor representative in Buenos Aires] and received the information he had requested, on the files he had requested, on many occasions. (...) Equally, the CIA knew the existence of the Condor organisation, and provided it with information on many occasions.[7]
The inquest into the assassination of Carlos Prats (1974)
He also investigated the assassination of Chilean General Carlos Prats in September 1974 in Buenos Aires, receiving testimony from Michael Townley who explicitly implicated the Argentine SIDE and the Milicia, an extreme-right group, in the death.[8]
The arrest of Santucho and Fuentes (1975)
After the arrest in Paraguay, on 16, of two Chileans from the Revolutionary Left Movement (Chile), members of the Revolutionary Coordinating Junta (JCR), Amilcar Santucho (brother of Mario Roberto Santucho) and Jorge Fuentes, Robert Scherrer was informed at every moment of their interrogation (during which the militants were tortured).[4]
He passed this information to the FBI, who interrogated presumed members of the JCR in the United States, including the wife of Fuentes.[1][a] He also informed courrier Chilean General Ernesto Baeza on 6 of the arrest of the Chileans (the letter was transmitted to the Rettig Commission who classed it in their "confidential" section.),[4] after which Argentine and Chilean interrogators went to Asuncion.[4]
Assaination of Cuban Rolando Masferrer (1975)
Scherrer told Saul Landau that the Cuban Rolando Masferrer, who was planning to assassinate Fidel Castro, and who was killed by a car bomb in October 1975, was killed by the Novo brothers (Guillermo and Ignacio) on the orders of Jorge Mas Canosa, leader of the Cuban American National Foundation and rival to Masferrer, whom he considered as too "moderate".[9]
Assassination of Torres, Letelier and the 1976 Operation Condor cable
A short time after the assassination in Buenos Aires of former Bolivian president Juan José Torres (2), Scherrer accumulated evidence to show that it had taken place as part of Condor.[10]
Then, a week after the assassination of former minister of Allende, Orlando Letelier, in Washington (September 1976), Scherrer sent a cable, dated 28, describing Operation Condor, in particular "phase 3", that is, assassinations overseas.[11] This document, which John Dinges received in 1979, two years after its declassification,[11] was cited in a book, written by Dinges and Saul Landau,[12] about the assassination of Letelier.[11] According to Scherrer, it was only with the assassination of Letelier that the United States became aware of the existence of "phase 3" of Condor.[13] John Dinges, however, has shown that this "was [false]" and that "American intelligence knew of the plans to execute the Condor Plan many months before the attack on Letelier".[14]
Much later, this cable was also used by Joan Garcés, former assistant to Allende, in a lawsuit launched in 1996 in Spain, before Judge Baltasar Garzón and the Audiencia Nacional, accusing the military dictatorship of Chile (1973–90) and the National Reorganization Process of a "criminal cartel" known as "Operation Condor", to assassinate its political opponents.[11]
This is also when Scherrer became aware of planned assassinations in Paris and Lisbon by Condor agents, in particular, members of the Batallón de Inteligencia 601 and the SIDE (Argentina), Uruguayans and Chileans.[15] While these failed, the CIA offered support to its French and Portuguese equivalents due to their imminence. Another project, possibly planned from the same source, against Uruguayan Senator Wilson Ferreira Aldunate also failed, with Scotland Yard offering close protection.[16]
Notes and references
- ^ Dinges refutes the version that journalist Tim Weiner states in F.B.I. Helped Chile Search For Leftists, Files Show, New York Times, 10 February 1999, where the FBI had no trace of the militants in the United States.
- ^ a b Dinges & Bourdon 2005, pp. 103–105.
- ^ Washington Post, Robert Scherrer Dies
- ^ Social Security Death Index
- ^ a b c d e f g Dinges & Bourdon 2005, p. 103.
- ^ Dinges & Bourdon 2005, p. 9.
- ^ Dinges & Bourdon 2005, p. 237.
- ^ Dinges & Bourdon 2005, p. 133.
- ^ Dinges & Bourdon 2005, p. 90.
- ^ Saul Landau. "Rolando Masferrer". Spartacus Educational. Archived from the original on 2014-04-05.
- ^ Dinges & Bourdon 2005, p. 163.
- ^ a b c d Dinges & Bourdon 2005, p. 38.
- ^ Dinges & Landau 1980, pp. 238–239.
- ^ Dinges & Bourdon 2005, p. 201.
- ^ Dinges & Bourdon 2005, p. 202.
- ^ Dinges & Bourdon 2005, p. 224.
- ^ Dinges & Bourdon 2005, pp. 226–227.
Annexes
Bibliography
- Letter of 6 June 1975 from Scherrer to Chilean General Ernesto Baeza (on the National Security Archives site)
- Cable from Robert Scherrer on 28 September 1976 describing Operation Condor and its "phase 3" (on the National Security Archives site)
- Cable from the American Embassy in Buenos Aires on 14 August 1975 (with clearance from Robert Scherrer) concerning the assassination of Chilean militants exiled in Argentina, and strongly urging the Minister José Lopez Rega that these may be coordinated across different services across the Southern Cone) (site of the National Security Archives, declassified document used in the trial of the ex-Uruguayan dictator Juan Maria Bordaberry, sentenced in 2010)
- Dinges, John; Bourdon, William (2005). La Découverte (ed.). Les Années Condor, comment Pinochet et ses alliés ont propagé le terrorisme sur trois continents [The Condor Years: How Pinochet and his Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents (2004)]. Translated by Isabelle Taudière. Paris. ISBN 978-2-7071-4424-9.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Dinges, John; Landau, Saul (1980). Assassination on Embassy Row. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- v
- t
- e
- Morgenthau Plan
- Hukbalahap Rebellion
- Jamaican political conflict
- Dekemvriana
- Guerrilla war in the Baltic states
- Operation Priboi
- Operation Jungle
- Occupation of the Baltic states
- Cursed soldiers
- Operation Unthinkable
- Gouzenko Affair
- Division of Korea
- Indonesian National Revolution
- Operation Masterdom
- Operation Beleaguer
- Operation Blacklist Forty
- Iran crisis of 1946
- Greek Civil War
- Baruch Plan
- Corfu Channel incident
- Turkish straits crisis
- Restatement of Policy on Germany
- First Indochina War
- 1947 Polish parliamentary election
- Truman Doctrine
- Asian Relations Conference
- May 1947 crises
- Partition of India
- Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948
- 1947–1949 Palestine war
- Marshall Plan
- Comecon
- 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état
- Incapacitation of the Allied Control Council
- Al-Wathbah uprising
- Tito–Stalin split
- Berlin Blockade
- Annexation of Hyderabad
- Madiun Affair
- Western betrayal
- Iron Curtain
- Eastern Bloc
- Western Bloc
- Chinese Civil War
- Malayan Emergency
- March 1949 Syrian coup d'état
- Operation Valuable
- Bamboo Curtain
- McCarthyism
- Korean War
- Arab Cold War (1952–1979)
- 1952 Egyptian Revolution
- Iraqi Intifada (1952)
- Mau Mau rebellion
- East German uprising of 1953
- 1953 Iranian coup d'état
- Pact of Madrid
- Bricker Amendment
- 1954 Syrian coup d'état
- Petrov Affair
- Domino theory
- 1954 Geneva Conference
- 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état
- Capture of the Tuapse
- First Taiwan Strait Crisis
- Jebel Akhdar War
- Algerian War
- Kashmir Princess
- Bandung Conference
- Geneva Summit (1955)
- Vietnam War
- Cyprus Emergency
- "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences"
- 1956 Poznań protests
- Hungarian Revolution of 1956
- Polish October
- Suez Crisis
- "We will bury you"
- Operation Gladio
- Syrian Crisis of 1957
- Sputnik crisis
- Ifni War
- Iraqi 14 July Revolution
- 1958 Lebanon crisis
- Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
- 1959 Mosul uprising
- 1959 Tibetan uprising
- Laotian Civil War
- Kitchen Debate
- Cuban Revolution
- Sino-Soviet split
- Congo Crisis
- Simba rebellion
- 1960 U-2 incident
- Bay of Pigs Invasion
- 1960 Turkish coup d'état
- Albanian–Soviet split
- Iraqi–Kurdish conflict
- Berlin Crisis of 1961
- Berlin Wall
- Annexation of Goa
- Papua conflict
- Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
- Sand War
- Portuguese Colonial War
- Cuban Missile Crisis
- El Porteñazo
- Sino-Indian War
- Communist insurgency in Sarawak
- Ramadan Revolution
- Eritrean War of Independence
- North Yemen Civil War
- 1963 Syrian coup d'état
- Assassination of John F. Kennedy
- Aden Emergency
- Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964
- Shifta War
- Mexican Dirty War
- Guatemalan Civil War
- Colombian conflict
- 1964 Brazilian coup d'état
- Dominican Civil War
- Rhodesian Bush War
- Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966
- Transition to the New Order (Indonesia)
- ASEAN Declaration
- 1966 Syrian coup d'état
- Cultural Revolution
- Argentine Revolution
- South African Border War
- Korean DMZ Conflict
- 12-3 incident
- Greek junta
- 1967 Hong Kong riots
- Years of Lead (Italy)
- Six-Day War
- War of Attrition
- Dhofar War
- Al-Wadiah War
- Nigerian Civil War
- Protests of 1968
- Prague Spring
- USS Pueblo incident
- 1968 Polish political crisis
- Communist insurgency in Malaysia
- Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
- 17 July Revolution
- 1968 Peruvian coup d'état
- 1969 Sudanese coup d'état
- 1969 Libyan revolution
- Goulash Communism
- Sino-Soviet border conflict
- New People's Army rebellion
- Détente
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
- Black September
- Alcora Exercise
- Corrective Movement (Syria)
- Western Sahara conflict
- Cambodian Civil War
- Communist insurgency in Thailand
- 1970 Polish protests
- Koza riot
- Realpolitik
- Ping-pong diplomacy
- 1971 JVP insurrection
- Corrective Revolution (Egypt)
- 1971 Turkish military memorandum
- 1971 Sudanese coup d'état
- Four Power Agreement on Berlin
- Bangladesh Liberation War
- 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China
- North Yemen-South Yemen Border conflict of 1972
- Yemenite War of 1972
- Munich massacre
- 1972–1975 Bangladesh insurgency
- Eritrean Civil Wars
- 1973 Uruguayan coup d'état
- 1973 Afghan coup d'état
- 1973 Chilean coup d'état
- Yom Kippur War
- 1973 oil crisis
- Carnation Revolution
- Spanish transition to democracy
- Metapolitefsi
- Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
- Second Iraqi–Kurdish War
- Turkish invasion of Cyprus
- Angolan Civil War
- Cambodian genocide
- June 1976 protests
- Mozambican Civil War
- Oromo conflict
- Ogaden War
- 1978 Somali coup attempt
- Western Sahara War
- Ethiopian Civil War
- Lebanese Civil War
- Albanian–Chinese split
- Third Indochina War
- Cambodian–Vietnamese War
- Operation Condor
- Dirty War (Argentina)
- 1976 Argentine coup d'état
- Egyptian–Libyan War
- German Autumn
- Korean Air Lines Flight 902
- Nicaraguan Revolution
- Uganda–Tanzania War
- NDF Rebellion
- Chadian–Libyan War
- Yemenite War of 1979
- Grand Mosque seizure
- Iranian Revolution
- Saur Revolution
- Sino-Vietnamese War
- New Jewel Movement
- 1979 Herat uprising
- Seven Days to the River Rhine
- Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union
- Salvadoran Civil War
- Soviet–Afghan War
- 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts
- Gera Demands
- Peruvian Revolution
- Gdańsk Agreement
- Solidarity
- Eritrean Civil Wars
- 1980 Turkish coup d'état
- Ugandan Bush War
- Gulf of Sidra incident
- Martial law in Poland
- Casamance conflict
- Falklands War
- 1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War
- Ndogboyosoi War
- United States invasion of Grenada
- Able Archer 83
- Star Wars
- 1985 Geneva Summit
- Iran–Iraq War
- Somali Rebellion
- Reykjavík Summit
- 1986 Black Sea incident
- South Yemen Civil War
- Toyota War
- 1987 Lieyu massacre
- Operation INFEKTION
- 1987–1989 JVP insurrection
- Lord's Resistance Army insurgency
- 1988 Black Sea bumping incident
- 8888 Uprising
- Solidarity (Soviet reaction)
- Contras
- Central American crisis
- Operation RYAN
- Korean Air Lines Flight 007
- People Power Revolution
- Glasnost
- Perestroika
- Bougainville conflict
- First Nagorno-Karabakh War
- Afghan Civil War
- United States invasion of Panama
- 1988 Polish strikes
- Polish Round Table Agreement
- 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
- Revolutions of 1989
- Fall of the Berlin Wall
- Fall of the inner German border
- Velvet Revolution
- Romanian Revolution
- Peaceful Revolution
Pro-communist | |
---|---|
Pro-Western |
competition
- Gar Alperovitz
- Thomas A. Bailey
- Michael Beschloss
- Archie Brown
- Warren H. Carroll
- Adrian Cioroianu
- John Costello
- Michael Cox
- Nicholas J. Cull
- Norman Davies
- Willem Drees
- Robert D. English
- Herbert Feis
- Robert Hugh Ferrell
- André Fontaine
- Anneli Ute Gabanyi
- John Lewis Gaddis
- Lloyd Gardner
- Timothy Garton Ash
- Gabriel Gorodetsky
- Fred Halliday
- Jussi Hanhimäki
- John Earl Haynes
- Patrick J. Hearden
- Tvrtko Jakovina
- Tony Judt
- Harvey Klehr
- Gabriel Kolko
- Walter LaFeber
- Walter Laqueur
- Melvyn P. Leffler
- Geir Lundestad
- Vojtech Mastny
- Jack F. Matlock Jr.
- Thomas J. McCormick
- Timothy Naftali
- Marius Oprea
- David S. Painter
- William B. Pickett
- Ronald E. Powaski
- Yakov M. Rabkin
- Mary Elise Sarotte
- Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
- Ellen Schrecker
- Giles Scott-Smith
- Shen Zhihua
- Timothy Snyder
- Athan Theoharis
- Andrew Thorpe
- Vladimir Tismăneanu
- Patrick Vaughan
- Alex von Tunzelmann
- Odd Arne Westad
- William Appleman Williams
- Jonathan Reed Winkler
- Rudolph Winnacker
- Ken Young
intelligence
- List of Eastern Bloc agents in the United States
- Soviet espionage in the United States
- Russian espionage in the United States
- American espionage in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation
- CIA and the Cultural Cold War
- CIA
- MI5
- MI6
- United States involvement in regime change
- Soviet involvement in regime change
- MVD
- KGB
- Stasi
- Category
- List of conflicts
- Timeline