According to several Western European researchers, the operation involved the use of assassination, psychological warfare, and false flag operations to delegitimize left-wing parties in Western European countries and to support anti-communist militias and right-wing terrorism who tortured communists and assassinated them, such as Mozambican resistance leader Eduardo Mondlane in 1969.[5][6][7][8][a] The United States Department of State rejected the view that they supported terrorists and maintains that the operation served only to resist a potential invasion of Western European countries by the Soviet Union.[9]

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio