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The condor is a vulture. There are 2 types, The Andean and the Californian Condor. It is the largest flying land bird in the Western Hemisphere.

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A tag with the name of the decedent is secured to the right first toe.2

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From 1975-1978 Operation Condor was a program of terror that resulted in a collaboration between many South American countries including Chili, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to identify and cooperate across national borders for the arrest, torture and executions of progressives, union organizers, activists, and students. The Central Intelligence Agency and the US government provided training, aid and military support for the right wing dictatorships involved in Operation Condor.

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The ordering of the following injuries is for descriptive purposes only and is not intended to imply order of infliction or relative severity.3

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Operation Condor was an early example of an extraordinary rendition program that resulted in an unknown amount of dead, disappeared and tortured. The U.S. has blocked all prosecutions to date that seek accountability of its officially sanctioned programs of torture, kidnapping and disappearance under the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program. By invoking its executive privilege of States Secrets, the Bush and Obama administrations have shielded all prosecutions of high ranking government and CIA officials while prosecuting the highest number of whistle blowers in American history.

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The body is that of an unclad, well-developed, well-nourished male. The body weighs approximately 190 pounds, is 72” in height and appears compatible with the reported age of 27 years. The body temperature is cold, that of the refrigeration unit.4

Condors appear in South American myths. The Incas thought the condor brought the sun into the sky each morning and was a messenger to the gods. The Andean Condor is representative of power and health by many Andean cultures.  It’s believed that the bones and organs of the Andean Condor possessed medicinal powers which in turn lead to the hunting and killing of condors to obtain its bones and organs. 5

 

The logic of hunting and killing terrorists took on greater urgency in North America after September 11, 2001. Locked in a never ending battle against a phantom enemy, we deplete resources, human lives and moral credibility. As American predators, we progressively endure a process of self-injury that leaves us, together with our prey, broken, crippled and mute.

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1 Unclassified State Department Report by Harry Shlaudeman on South America and Operation Condor’s plan to kill terrorists across international borders
2 Autopsy Report ME04-309, pp. 4
3 Autopsy Report ME04-309, pp. 4
4 Autopsy Report ME04-309, pp. 4
5 Zoological Society of San Diego, Andean Condor