In the 1970s, South America's military dictatorships clubbed together to hunt down and eliminate left-wing dissidents across national borders, as part of a secret plan known as "Operation Condor".
Hundreds of people who fled abroad were killed as part of the US-backed state terror programme involving Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil, on top of the thousands murdered on their home soil.
As Chile marks 50 years since the 1973 coup that ousted socialist president Salvador Allende and brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, we look back at the covert cross-border war he and other South American leaders waged against the left.
- Born in Chile -
Condor was formally created in Chile in November 1975, when Pinochet's spy chief invited intelligence officers from other dictatorships to a meeting in Santiago.
The head of Chile's fearsome secret police, Manuel Contreras, was convicted in 1995 for the part he played in several assassinations but Pinochet, who died in 2006, escaped trial over Condor and other human rights abuses.
- Argentina at the epicentre -
Most of the dissidents killed or kidnapped under Condor were nabbed in Argentina, where many Uruguayans, Chileans and Paraguayan activists had gone into exile before that country's leftist president was overthrown in 1976.
One of the first victims of the cross-border hits was Carlos Prats, former head of the Chilean army under Allende, who was assassinated with his wife in Buenos Aires in 1974 in a car bomb attack.
In 2008, Contreras was convicted in Chile of their murders.
At a garage in Buenos Aires, Argentine and Uruguayan forces detained and tortured hundreds of activists of various nationalities.
Fifteen former military officers were jailed in 2016 in Argentina for their role in the atrocities.
- Beyond borders -
Opponents were pursued as far away as Rome, where Chilean Christian Democratic leader Bernardo Leighton and his wife escaped an attempted assassination in 1975.
The most high-profile killing took place a year later in Washington, where Orlando Letelier, a former minister under Allende, and his American assistant, Ronni Moffitt, were killed by a car bomb.
- Green light from US -
The United States knew about Condor but did not oppose it, seeing South American dictatorships as a bulwark against communism.
"If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly. But you should get back quickly to normal procedures," then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told Argentina’s foreign minister in 1976, declassified US intelligence documents show.
The Letelier-Moffitt murders changed US policy, prompting Washington to distance itself from South American rights abusers.
On a visit to Argentina in 2016, then-president Barack Obama admitted the US had been "too slow" to condemn the dictatorship but stopped short of an apology.
- 'Archives of terror' -
Details of Condor only began emerging in the early 1990s after the discovery in Paraguay of a trove of documents that became known as the "Archives of Terror," about the collaboration between South American spy services.
Documents subsequently declassified by the United States shed light on Washington's role.
What to know about pivotal Chile coup, 50 years later
Half a century ago, Chile's La Moneda presidential palace went up in flames after being bombed by air force jets. Inside, socialist president Salvador Allende committed suicide as a coup d'etat unfolded.
"Mission accomplished. Moneda taken. President dead," was the infamous message soldiers sent to General Augusto Pinochet after a military takeover which sent shockwaves around the world, ushering in a brutal dictatorship that would last 17 years.
In Chile, which marks the 50th anniversary of the coup on Sunday, the events remain deeply divisive and continue to shape modern politics.
President Gabriel Boric will attend a ceremony to mark the anniversary, along with leaders from Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Uruguay.
This is what you need to know about the 1973 coup and its aftermath:
- The coup -
Chile was considered a bastion of democracy and stability in Latin America, but became increasingly polarized after the 1970 election of Marxist Allende.
His socialist policies, such as nationalization and land reform, were blamed by many for a deepening economic crisis, soaring inflation, and food shortages, which increased political tension and protests.
The United States, seeking to halt the spread of communism in the midst of the Cold War, is documented as having carried out covert efforts to destabilize the economy and support the opposition.
Army chief Pinochet carried out a coup on September 11, 1973, with troops and tanks deployed on the streets of Santiago.
His 17-year iron-fisted rule was marked by the brutal repression of opponents.
- The victims -
More than 3,200 people were killed or "disappeared" -- abducted and presumed killed -- by Pinochet's security forces, and about 38,000 were tortured.
Investigations into what happened began in 1998, and 250 agents of the dictatorship have been imprisoned, but the fate of hundreds of victims remains unknown.
"There is no closure for the fact that my brother is still missing," said Marialina Gonzalez, 59, whose childhood was marked by her mother's fruitless search for her son, a leftist activist who went missing in 1974.
Last week, Boric's government unveiled a plan -- the first-ever such government initiative in Chile -- to find out what happened to hundreds of disappeared.
- An enduring legacy -
Chile's coup reverberated around the world at the height of the Cold War, while underscoring US interference in Latin America.
To many, Allende became a leftist icon, but others blame him for political failures that led to the coup.
Pinochet is seen by some, still today, as a savior who oversaw a period of relative economic prosperity.
A survey conducted by pollster Cerc-Mori in May found that 36 percent of people believe the general "liberated Chile from Marxism," the highest figure measured in 28 years of polling.
However, when it comes to people born after the coup, 60 percent disapprove of Pinochet, according to a survey by pollster Activa Research.
Fifty years later, Chile is still trying to find its post-coup identity and shape a new political system amid ongoing debate over a new constitution.
But Allende and Pinchet cast long shadows.
The coup anniversary comes as the country is led by Boric, a 37-year-old leftist who regularly pays homage to Allende.
He came to power after a wave of social protests in 2019 which led to a referendum in which 80 percent voted to replace the Pinochet-era constitution widely blamed for Chile's deep economic inequity.
However, more than 61 percent of voters last year went on to reject a constitutional draft which would have made Chile one of the most progressive countries in Latin America.
And in May, the far-right Republican Party led by conservative lawyer Jose Antonio Kast -- a Pinochet apologist -- won 23 of 51 seats on the council that will write a new one.
In the days leading up to the anniversary, Kast's party, and other right-wing groups, refused to sign a commitment to "defend democracy from authoritarian threats" put forward by Boric.