Journey to the Heart of the Condor: Love, Loss, and Survival in a South American Dictatorship

Emily Creigh learned in November 1974 that she would spend the next two years and three months as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, a developing Latin American country with quaint customs and “tranquil” people.

In fact, terror reigned in the US-backed banana republic with its “benevolent” dictator, Alfredo Stroessner, who had held the country in a state of siege for twenty years.

Just days after Emily learned of her assignment, Martín Almada, doctor of education and director of a renowned school in Paraguay, became one of the first victims of Operation Condor, the US-backed secret accord among six Southern Cone countries in South America. Members of Operation Condor would go on to pursue and eliminate tens of thousands of “subversives” (i.e., opponents of the dictatorships) within each other’s borders.

Journey to the Heart of the Condor is the true account of a Peace Corps volunteer and a dedicated teacher who shared the same ideals yet found themselves on opposite sides of a “dirty war” in South America. Based on her journals and letters, Emily’s poignant, often humorous coming-of-age story unfolds against the backdrop of the regime’s villainy, as related by Dr. Almada, now a renowned human rights defender.