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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Orlando Letelier.md
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@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ summary: "Former Chilean foreign minister killed with his colleague Ronni Moffit
died: 1976-09-21
location: "Washington, D.C."
created: 2026-09-21
updated: 2026-09-21
updated: 2026-10-15
---
Orlando Letelier was ambassador to the [[United States]] and then foreign and defense minister in the government of [[Salvador Allende]]. After a year in the prison camps of the junta he settled in Washington at the [[Institute for Policy Studies]]. On September 21, 1976, a bomb fixed under his car exploded at [[Sheridan Circle]] and killed him and his American colleague [[Ronni Moffitt]]. The bomb was placed by [[Michael Townley]], an American working for the Chilean secret police, [[DINA]], with men from the [[Cuban Nationalist Movement]]. Six weeks earlier the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] had received photographs of the passports with which DINA first tried to send its agents to Washington.[^1][^2]
@ -37,15 +37,15 @@ On August 23, 1976, the [[State Department]] drafted an instruction to the ambas
Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Eugene Propper]] met Letelier's widow, [[Isabel Letelier]], and his colleagues at the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] on October 21, 1976. They asked [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Edward Levi]] to subpoena the CIA's records, and Levi declined, saying the agency was cooperating. The [[Washington Post|Washington Post]] reported on November 1 that the agency believed Chilean operatives had not carried out the bombing, and that "[[Director of Central Intelligence|CIA Director]] Bush expressed this view in a conversation late last week with [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] Kissinger." The agency's first report naming Contreras as a suspect is dated October 6, 1976. It met him about six times in 1977, three of them to ask about the murder, and broke contact on November 3, 1977, when he was moved out of intelligence work.[^4][^7]
Townley was expelled from [[Chile]] in 1978, pleaded guilty, and testified for the government. Chile refused to extradite Contreras and his deputy, [[Pedro Espinoza]]. [[Guillermo Novo]] and [[Alvin Ross Díaz]] were convicted of the murders and [[Ignacio Novo]] of lying to the grand jury. The [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit|D.C. Circuit]] reversed all three convictions on December 9, 1980. The case against Guillermo Novo and Ross had rested on cellmates who were working for the government, testimony the Supreme Court had ruled inadmissible six months earlier, and Ignacio Novo should have been tried separately. [[Armando Fernandez Larios]], the DINA officer who had conducted the surveillance and met Townley at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|Kennedy Airport]] on September 9, 1976, pleaded guilty in 1987 to being an accessory after the fact and was paroled after five months. A federal court held Chile liable to the families in 1980.[^8][^9][^10]
Townley was expelled from [[Chile]] in 1978, pleaded guilty, and testified for the government. Chile refused to extradite Contreras and his deputy, [[Pedro Espinoza]]. [[Guillermo Novo]] and [[Alvin Ross Díaz]] were convicted of the murders and [[Ignacio Novo]] of lying to the grand jury. The [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit|D.C. Circuit]] reversed all three convictions on September 15, 1980 and denied rehearing on December 9, 1980.[^8] The case against Guillermo Novo and Ross had rested on cellmates who were working for the government, testimony the Supreme Court had ruled inadmissible six months earlier, and Ignacio Novo should have been tried separately. [[Armando Fernandez Larios]], the DINA officer who had conducted the surveillance and met Townley at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|Kennedy Airport]] on September 9, 1976, pleaded guilty in 1987 to being an accessory after the fact and was paroled after five months. A federal court held Chile liable to the families in 1980.[^9][^10][^11]
### Compensation
The families sued Chile in 1978. Chile defaulted, and Judge [[Joyce Hens Green]] entered judgment on November 5, 1980, for more than five million dollars. Townley, Ross, and Ignacio Novo had been in default since September 20, 1978, and Guillermo Novo since October 24; Contreras, Espinoza, and Fernández Larios, served by registered mail in 1978 and by letters rogatory on September 22, 1980, were defaulted on October 23. The judgment against Chile, Contreras, Espinoza, Fernández, Townley, Ross, and Guillermo Novo, jointly and severally, included 30,000 dollars for Letelier's pain and suffering, one million in punitive damages, and 1,526,479 dollars in wrongful death, and for Ronni Moffitt 80,000, one million, and 916,096 dollars. They then tried to collect from the [[New York City|New York]] assets of the state airline, [[LAN Chile]], which the district court found had carried Townley, his explosives, and his money. Judge [[Morris Lasker]] called Chile's use of the airline a "gross abuse of the corporate form." The [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|Second Circuit]] reversed him on November 20, 1984, finding only that "Michael Townley was able to enlist the cooperation of certain LAN pilots and officials with whom he had a pre-existing social relationship," and added that "hard cases make bad law." After Pinochet left office the two governments agreed on June 11, 1990, that Chile, "without admitting liability," would make an ex gratia payment to be fixed by a commission under a treaty of 1914. The commission awarded 2,611,892 dollars on January 11, 1992: 1.2 million to Isabel Letelier and her four sons for lost support, with 160,000 to her and 80,000 to each of them in moral damages, 483,000 to [[Michael Moffitt]], and 300,000 to Ronni Moffitt's parents. It excluded Letelier's income from lectures and publications and "took into account the significant steps undertaken by the Chilean Government and Congress to remedy human rights problems." The payment extinguished all other claims.[^11]
The families sued Chile in 1978. Chile defaulted, and Judge [[Joyce Hens Green]] entered judgment on November 5, 1980, for more than five million dollars. Townley, Ross, and Ignacio Novo had been in default since September 20, 1978, and Guillermo Novo since October 24; Contreras, Espinoza, and Fernández Larios, served by registered mail in 1978 and by letters rogatory on September 22, 1980, were defaulted on October 23. The judgment against Chile, Contreras, Espinoza, Fernández, Townley, Ross, and Guillermo Novo, jointly and severally, included 30,000 dollars for Letelier's pain and suffering, one million in punitive damages, and 1,526,479 dollars in wrongful death, and for Ronni Moffitt 80,000, one million, and 916,096 dollars. They then tried to collect from the [[New York City|New York]] assets of the state airline, [[LAN Chile]], which the district court found had carried Townley, his explosives, and his money. Judge [[Morris Lasker]] ruled that Chile's alleged use of the airline to transport Townley and explosives to the United States, if proven, "would constitute a gross abuse of the corporate form." The [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|Second Circuit]] reversed him on November 20, 1984, finding only that "Michael Townley was able to enlist the cooperation of certain LAN pilots and officials with whom he had a pre-existing social relationship," and added that "hard cases make bad law." After Pinochet left office the two governments agreed on June 11, 1990, that Chile, "without admitting liability," would make an ex gratia payment to be fixed by a commission under a treaty of 1914. The commission awarded 2,611,892 dollars on January 11, 1992: 1.2 million to Isabel Letelier and her four sons for lost support, with 160,000 to her and 80,000 to each of them in moral damages, 483,000 to [[Michael Moffitt]], and 300,000 to Ronni Moffitt's parents. It excluded Letelier's income from lectures and publications and "took into account the significant steps undertaken by the Chilean Government and Congress to remedy human rights problems." The payment extinguished all other claims.[^12]
### The 1987 Assessment
In 1987 Secretary of State [[George Shultz]] asked the CIA to assess responsibility. Its report of May 1, 1987, "Pinochet's Role in the Letelier Assassination and Subsequent Coverup," concluded that [[Augusto Pinochet]] "personally ordered" the killing and had afterward considered eliminating Contreras. Shultz wrote to President [[Ronald Reagan]] on October 6 that the agency had "convincing evidence" and called the murder "a blatant example of a chief of state's direct involvement in an act of state terrorism." A State Department cable of January 22, 1987, quoted Contreras as saying he "authorized the assassination of Letelier on orders from Pinochet." The documents were withheld until 2015 and 2016, when they were given to President [[Michelle Bachelet]]. Most of the underlying intelligence remains classified.[^12]
In 1987 Secretary of State [[George Shultz]] asked the CIA to assess responsibility. Its report of May 1, 1987, "Pinochet's Role in the Letelier Assassination and Subsequent Coverup," concluded that [[Augusto Pinochet]] "personally ordered" the killing and had afterward considered eliminating Contreras. Shultz wrote to President [[Ronald Reagan]] on October 6 that the agency had "convincing evidence" and called the murder "a blatant example of a chief of state's direct involvement in an act of state terrorism." A State Department cable of January 22, 1987, quoted Contreras as saying he "authorized the assassination of Letelier on orders from Pinochet." The documents were withheld until 2015 and 2016, when they were given to President [[Michelle Bachelet]]. Most of the underlying intelligence remains classified.[^13]
### Footnotes
@ -56,8 +56,9 @@ In 1987 Secretary of State [[George Shultz]] asked the CIA to assess responsibil
[^5]: O'Leary, Jeremiah. "U.S. Envoy's Testimony Puts CIA Twist in Letelier Case," *The Washington Star,* February 9, 1979, and Burnham, David, report of the same date in *The New York Times,* CIA Reading Room clipping.
[^6]: Department of State, cable State 209192, "Operation Condor," August 23, 1976; cable SECTO 27128, "Actions Taken," September 16, 1976; cable San José 4526, "Operation Condor," September 20, 1976, in Osorio, Carlos, ed. "Kissinger Blocked Demarche on International Assassinations to Condor States," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 312, 2010. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB312/ ; Inouye, Daniel K., letter to George Bush, September 29, 1976, CIA Reading Room document 03303946.
[^7]: "No New Leads Uncovered by Letelier Probe," *The Washington Post,* November 1, 1976, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP99-00498R000100020097-6.
[^8]: De Letelier v. Republic of Chile, 488 F. Supp. 665 (D.D.C. 1980).
[^9]: Kornbluh, Peter, ed. "'Worst of the Worst': ICE and the Case of Chilean Intelligence Operative Armando Fernandez Larios," National Security Archive, July 10, 2026. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2026-07-10/worst-worst-ice-and-case-chilean-intelligence-operative-armando
[^10]: United States v. Henry, 447 U.S. 264 (1980).
[^11]: *Letelier v. Republic of Chile,* 502 F. Supp. 259 (D.D.C. 1980), memorandum opinion of November 5, 1980. De Letelier v. Republic of Chile, 748 F.2d 790 (2d Cir. 1984); "Dispute Concerning Responsibility for the Deaths of Letelier and Moffitt (United States, Chile)," decision of January 11, 1992, *Reports of International Arbitral Awards,* vol. XXV, pp. 1-19. https://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XXV/1-19.pdf
[^12]: Kornbluh, Peter, ed. "CIA: 'Pinochet personally ordered' Letelier bombing," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 560, September 23, 2016. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2016-09-23/cia-pinochet-personally-ordered-letelier-bombing ; "The Pinochet File: U.S. Declassifies Missing Documents in the Letelier-Moffitt Case," Electronic Briefing Book No. 532, October 8, 2015.
[^8]: *United States v. Novo Sampol*, 636 F.2d 621 (D.C. Cir. 1980) (Nos. 79-1541, 79-1542 and 79-1808; per curiam; MacKinnon and Robb, JJ., and Corcoran, D.J.), argued June 10, 1980, decided September 15, 1980, rehearing denied December 9, 1980. https://cite.case.law/f2d/636/621/
[^9]: De Letelier v. Republic of Chile, 488 F. Supp. 665 (D.D.C. 1980).
[^10]: Kornbluh, Peter, ed. "'Worst of the Worst': ICE and the Case of Chilean Intelligence Operative Armando Fernandez Larios," National Security Archive, July 10, 2026. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2026-07-10/worst-worst-ice-and-case-chilean-intelligence-operative-armando
[^11]: United States v. Henry, 447 U.S. 264 (1980).
[^12]: *Letelier v. Republic of Chile,* 502 F. Supp. 259 (D.D.C. 1980), memorandum opinion of November 5, 1980. De Letelier v. Republic of Chile, 748 F.2d 790 (2d Cir. 1984), https://static.case.law/f2d/748/cases/0790-01.json ; "Dispute Concerning Responsibility for the Deaths of Letelier and Moffitt (United States, Chile)," decision of January 11, 1992, *Reports of International Arbitral Awards,* vol. XXV, pp. 1-19. https://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XXV/1-19.pdf
[^13]: Kornbluh, Peter, ed. "CIA: 'Pinochet personally ordered' Letelier bombing," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 560, September 23, 2016. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2016-09-23/cia-pinochet-personally-ordered-letelier-bombing ; "The Pinochet File: U.S. Declassifies Missing Documents in the Letelier-Moffitt Case," Electronic Briefing Book No. 532, October 8, 2015.