Aginter press

Aginter Press was established in Lisbon in September 1966 . Its first leader was a retired French officer, a participant in the Korean and Algerian wars, SLA fighter Yves Gueren-Serak . A Catholic activist and anti-communist , Guerin-Serac considered the Salazar regime the main bulwark against communism and atheism .

The Salazarist Order, Center, Tradition ( port. Ordem Central e Tradição ) (led by João da Silva) and the operational Organization of Action against International Communism ( French Organization de l'action contre le communisme international ) ^{[ 1]} (supervisor - Yves Geren-Serak). The first was a political and ideological structure, the second a task force. The leadership and asset of the agency was dominated by the French ultra-right - immigrants from the SLA ^[2] .

The Aginter Press installation document (discovered after the agency closed in 1974) said:

At the first stage, chaos should be created in all structures of power. Need to undermine the economy, disorganization of the state apparatus. This situation is created by non-targeted terrorism (attacks with numerous victims) and selective terrorism (elimination of specific individuals). The destruction of a democratic state should be carried out under the guise of communist activity. Next, you need to penetrate the army, the judicial system, the church, influence public opinion ... Psychological pressure on friends and enemies should be such that polarized public opinion sees us as the only force capable of preserving the nation ... Consolidation of the masses around an effective structure will allow us to make our revolution ^{[ 3]} .

If this text is considered genuine, it clearly reflects the authors' own goals in the Cold War , which by no means coincided with the goals of the United States and NATO . There is an ultra-right concept of the Third Way , a kind of neo-fascism . The structure had pronounced features of the military-ideological order (world army of anti-communism):

All resources must be mobilized to fight against the forces of evil - in order to restore moral order, ensure primacy of spirit over matter and the triumph of traditional values ​​of civilization ^[4] .

Aginter Press agents, pretended to be journalists and photojournalists, have created an extensive network that covers a number of countries in Western Europe, Africa and Latin America. They conducted intensive anti-communist and neo-fascist propaganda, helped organize extreme right - wing political structures, infiltrated the ultra-left environment ^[5] , and carried out operational actions. The most important role in the activities of the Aginter Press was played by the famous Italian neo-fascist Stefano Delle Chiaye . The system has been actively included in the Gladio program. Interaction was established with the US CIA , the Portuguese PIDE , the Spanish SECED.

Particularly close was cooperation with PIDE - the Portuguese secret services were led by the ideological like-minded ultra-right-minded Fernando Silva Pais and Agostinho Barbieri Cardozo . Representatives of Aginter Press affiliates assisted PIDE in Operação Outono , the assassination of anti-Salazar opposition leader General Umbert Delgad ^[6] .

In Namibian Windhoek (then under the occupation of South Africa ), a militant training center operated. Aginter Press is credited with terrorist attacks against the Portuguese opposition and Marxist anti-colonial movements in the African colonies of Portugal - along with the assassination of General Delgado ( Portuguese National Liberation Front ), the assassination of Amilcar Cabral ( PAIGC ), Eduardo Mondlane ( FRELIMO ). These allegations are not supported by evidence, there are other well-founded versions - Delgado was killed before the official establishment of Aginter Press, a tough internal struggle was going on in PAIGK and FRELIMO. However, the participation of Aginter Press representatives in destabilizing operations against the pro-communist government of Marian Nguabi in the Congo and against PAIGC in Portuguese Guinea was confirmed. In the first case, Aginter Press interacted with the French special services , in the second - with PIDE.

Of particular importance was the support of neo-fascist terror in Italy . Aginter Press has confirmed the operational relationship with the organizations of the National Avant-garde (structure of Delle Chaye) and the New Order (structure of Pierluigi Concutelli ). Aginter Press activists were suspected of involvement in a terrorist attack on Milan's Piazza Fontana in December 1969. ^[7] Similar actions of an operational and organizational nature were recorded in France, Switzerland, and Belgium.

The activities of Aginter Press in Portugal were suppressed by the revolution of April 25, 1974 . Agency staff left Lisbon, moving to Spain and Venezuela. They were given French passports - according to some sources, with the sanction of the curator of African policy in France, Jacques Foccart .

Despite the formal cessation of operations, Aginter Press personnel and operational technologies remained involved until the early 1980s. The most massive actions in Western Europe in the second half of the 1970s were the Montechurra Massacre in Spain, the murder of Judge Vittorio Okkorsio in Italy. In August 1977, at the "meeting of Saint-Cloud" (in the castle of Sixtes Enrique de Bourbon , under the leadership of Delle Quaye), a comprehensive program of force attacks against communist and pro-Soviet organizations was developed and subsequently implemented ^[8] .

Having relocated to Spain, Yves Guerin-Serac collaborated with the Portuguese Liberation Army . During the Hot Summer period, he planned a full-scale civil war against the left-wing radical government of Vaska Gonçalves . Another Portuguese ally of Aginter Press was the CODECO group ^[9] .

Beginning in 1980-1981, a fundamentally new stage of the Cold War began . During the anti-Soviet consolidation of the West on a Reagan basis, the achievements of Aginter Press, adapted to the conditions of 1960-1970, ceased to be relevant.

There are allegations of the importance of the Aginter Press experience for modern ultra-right forces ^[10] .

• World Anti-Communist League
• Stefano Delle Chiaye
• Guido Giannettini
• Tecos