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, N THE dead of night, Michael Vernon a distan¿e by a low-frequency radio signal, the and slips away into che darkness tO begin a jour Townley enters a quiet suburban cul pager will no longer beep but instead produce an ney thac will remove him as far as possible from de-sac like a thief. In the driveway of electrical charge powerful enough tO 'light' che scene of the subsequent, ultimate crime, in one of its unpretentious houses, he lies Townley's match and detonate his bombo accordance with his orders. Town1ey is the tech on his back alongside a blue Ford Lying alongside the Chevelle, Town1ey uses nician and the facilitatOr, not che button mano Chevelle. From underneath his sweat electrical insulating tape tO attach the baking The task of transmitting the signal that will shirt he retrieves an aluminium baking tray to a crossbeam direccly beneath the driver's complete Town1ey's mission has been delegated tray, bought that afternoon from a seat. He is a large man and has only a few inches to hired help. local branch of the Sears department of vertical space in which to work. Out of the The signal is sene - 'on 31.040 megahertz, if store. Ir contains four pounds of TNT comer of one eye he sees the tyres of an my memory serves me well,' says Townley - as and a few ounces of more volatile plas approaching car. Judging by its crackling radio the blue Chevelle enters Sheridan Cirde, a tique, which will enhance tlle intended messages, Town1ey can teU it is a prowling police roundabout on Washington DC's embassy roW. explosiono The detonating cord - the car, but the occupanes do not notÍce him. When The cirde is crowded with morning rush-hour fuse - is attached to an 'electric they have gone, he breathes again and reaches craffic, but Town1ey has designed his bomb so atch', which is Townley's invention. He foc the switch that will arm the device, tO dis that mosc of its force will vene upwards in a nar lieves his match to be vasdy superior to the cover he has inadvertendy covered it with tape. row vertical band aimed at che driver, thus limit nventiona! blasting cap. N evertheless, a blast Very carefully, he probes with his fingers tO free ing what Townley calls 'coIlacera! damage', and 5 cap is also present in Townley's package, the switch, acutely aware that if and when he he has done his work weIl. The explosion ~red in parallel, as insurance; Townley is noth succeeds he may release a latene charge that removes a seccion of che fioor, and che driver's g if not thorough. couId prematurely detonate the bomb, and legs. The remainder of che driver's body faUs The trigger is a 'beeper', a radio pager which obliterate him. It is, so tO speak, his main occu chrough che hole while che car is still in motion, lS been adapted by Townley. He has removed pational hazard. the stumps ofhis chighs dragging on the tarmac ; miniacure speaker and replaced it with bat The bomb does not explode; not yet. His work leaving a trail of reddish-black grease. In no ríes bought from Radio Shack. Activated from done, Townley gets up from beside the Chevelle more than a few minutes, long before his would . TELEGRAPH MAGAZINE lillenue'S n6aU 01 al'lliOO J.UJ.·litll:l, lmU~J.·d.l. excraOJeea eo rne U01rc:a ,)tatc:s auu ucuugU[ (U Carlos Prats, lived in exile in accounc for ie, he muse remain in che shadows, Buenos Aires, Shortly a.tter Townley hidden by a false identity, conseandy on watch travelled tb.ere, Prats and bis for rus enemies who, in various ways, still seek wife were blown to pieces in this car their revenge. They are nwnerous. They iDelude che authori ties of boeh Argencina and Italy, who wish to che service of his cause,' he says. '1 was a soldier prosecuee Townley for his alleged murdérous in che service of mine.' aceivities in cheir respective countries; Cuban le all sounds like someching from che pages nacionalists in New Jersey and Florida whó did of a spy novel, but Michael T~wnley, secret direy work for Townley, who now fee! betrayed agenc, is real enough. So were the bodies he by him; an assortmenc. qf right-wing European caused ro be buried. terrorists abouc whom Town1ey knows too much; the re!acives of his viceims, sorne of whom have ~ ON FIRST meeting, ac leasc, Townley fails to obcained a judgment against him for $6 million Ü live up co any of che scereotypes of che profes in civil damages which they cannot hope to col- i sional assassin. He has been dubbed 'The J ackal', Ieee unless ehey find him; and - noe least - 9 but only by headline wricers who lack imagina former members of DINA, che now-defunce ¡ cion and joumaliscs who have never mee him. Chilean Deparcment of Nacional Intelligence, :i. Townley's emocional responses are far coo ordi which Townley served as an agent and assassin. ~ nary - tOO banal. - ro allow comparison wich Above them all, however, seands one man: E Frederick Forsych's cold-eyed creation; and any General Juan ~~nu~l Cont'fc:.1;~$/!P9!.veda, who ~ way,unlike che Jackal, Townley was poorly was DINA's architeet and cruef conduceor. There ~
,e rescuers can cuc him from che wreckagc, che rewarded for his services. He would prefer com was a eime when Townley near-idolised General :lan bleeds dry. parison co one of John Le Carré's characcers, or Concreras; now, he says, he despises him, and ic However, for all Townley's careful planning Adam Hall's Quiller: a soldier wichouc a uni is safe co asswne thae the feeling is mutua!. nd proficiency, his mission is not an unqualified form who killed for his country - buc che coun Concreras was once che second mose powerful uccess. Though his orders specified chac che cry Townley killed for was noc his own, however man in Chile, second only eo Presidenc Auguseo :river should be alone when che bomb was deco much he wished ic might have been. And yec Pinochee, whose milicary regime survived from I.aced, chere are cwo passengers in che car, aman Townley was no mercenary, nor a mindl.ess 1973 uncil1990 chanks, in large pare, to DINA' s .nd rus wife. The husband, sining in the back of fanacic. True, he believed in a cause, but noc quick and brueal suppression of any opposicion. he car, escapes wieh superficial burns. His wife, unchinkingly. He says he always questioned che Today, because ofTownley, Concreras faces erial he front seac passenger, is hic in che neck by a order co kili: was chere noc anocher way co neu in a now-democratic Chile, accused of ordering iny piece of shrapnel chac severs her carocid cralise che enemy, he would ask his superiors. the Sheridan Circle bombing and, by implica Irtery. Lying by che side of che road, wacched by Even so, he did enough chac he now drives his tion, of waging an unauthorised 'dircy war' on ler francic husband, she also bleeds to deach, car wich one eye permanendy fixed on che rear chose he perceived tO be Chile's enemies. übeit more slowly chan che driver. view mirror, and he never sics in a public place Buc Townley cannot cravel to Chile co cescify For causing her deach, Townley eventually wich his back tO the door. Though ic is 16 years against Concreras - not, in his view, with :ays he is profoundly sorry. Speaking of che man chis monch since Townley caused che explosion any real prospecc of returning alive , for even in le killed, he verbally shrugs. 'He was a soldier in in Sheridan Circle, and 14 years since he was democracic Chile the general retains powerful TELEGRAPH MAGAZlNE 3S friends. Which is why earller this year Townley ried, but though he had captured bis prize, emerged brieBy from the shadows to talk pub- Townley was never certain of it. For the nen 22 licly for the first time about bis career. In order to years, he says, he wondered 'when - not if 'set the record straight' about Contreras, he Mariana would leave me'. She was very much the agreed to cooperate wim a BBC1 television doc- . dominant partner, or as Townley wryly puts it, umentary - to be broadcast next Wednes he made all of che decisions about tbeir lives day - and to talk to The Teiegraph Magazine. 'except me imporcant ones'. None was more It turns out we have different agendas. His is imporcant, in retrospect, than Mariana's abrupt to explain the bistorical and polítical context of declaration in September 1970 that she was what happened in Chile; tO juStify not what he leaving Miami,where. the couple had lived for did but why. Mine is tO understand how an all- four years, to return to Chile. American boy from a small town in lowa, ofunex It was not a convenient decision. Townley had ceptional background, who seems normal, who just bought into a car transmission repair busi is articulate, intelligent, considerate of strang ness with money borrowed from bis father, and ers, and devoted to his parenes, bis children and there was a new home and, by then, five children his dog, was persuaded tO become a killer. to supporc - but nothmg would dissuade her. For Salvador Allende had just been elecced presi WE MEET one weekend in an airport Holiday dent of Chile on an avowedly Marxist platform, Inn somewhere. in America. Townley selected the first CommuDÍSt leader ever elecced in Latin the hotel expecting it to be quiet, but this par America; an eyen~ that.
',~ its inspiration from the Spanish fascist wricer - :- ....'.::'-~.. y ":. ,.' José Antonio Primo de Rivera, and threacened Allende with a campaign of'Wbice Terror'. The Townley home had become a nightly gathering · ~ L , .;;'1" place for young men and women, children ofthe middle classes - 'my boys,' as Mariana called them - who discussed and prepared an orgy of street violence. Townley himself did not immediately join che onstrate his knack of blending in with any revolution - or 'the resistance' as he p~ers to crowd; despite his physical size, he becomes call it - until, observing a street demonStration almost invisible. In a lobby filled with excited in a middle-class neighbourhood ofSantÚlgo, he pubescent girls and their solicitous parents, we saw riot políce beat a fraíl old man with batons. sit unnoticed, talking quiedy of murder and 'It was so excessive, so oucrageous,' he Said. 'If mayhem and debating what made Townley such you are looking for a genesis point when some a willing recruir foc DINA. He shrugs off bis thing went snap in me, I would say that was the decision tO become an assassin to 'fate and moment.' A litde jealous of the increasíng happenstance'. 1 say it seems more like obsession. amount of time Mariana was spending with 'her Townley was a 17-year-old high school drop boys' , and yet disdainful of their 'amateurism' as out, living in Chile because his father ran the revolutionaries, Townley volunteered a con- V> local Ford motor factory, when he first saw Inés tribution to the cause: che 'cechnically correer' ~ 'Mariana' Callejas in October 1960. She was 26, formula for che manufacture of Molocov cock- i already on her second bad marriage, and the tails, otherwise known as pecrol bombs. ~ mother of three. She was also strikingly beauti The formula came from the pages ofThe Anar- ¡? fui and from the moment they met, Townley chist's Cookbook, che would-be revolutionary's ~ pursued her with dogged determination, alarm How To manual published in Arnerica in the ~ ing her friends who urged her to make the tall, Sixties. Townley was a voracious reader of this ~ gangling youth keep his distance. 'He is staying and oeher. mor~ conventío~al technical journals, ~ away,' she told them. 'Abour twO metres.' and desplte hls Jack of hlgher educarion, had i :hemiscry, as wel1 as a Jack-of-all-crades under vant of che Allende governmenc. He was an ;tanding of compucer and radio cechoology. army ineelligence officer who had spenc much of lo che swnmer of 1972, Townley began curo 1973 attempcing to crack down a clandescine og cheory inco praceice, filling boceles wich che radio scation chac made brief nightIy broadcascs :orrece amounes of ingredienes, maoy of chem co Sanciago, cauncing Allende with righc-wing :aken from Mariana's kicchen cupboards. 'Ic propaganda and pacriocic songs. The station loeso'c cake much knowledge co make a Molo may have been difficulc co track because it was ov cocktail: says Townley. '1 jusc happen co located in che boot of Townley's Mini-Cooper, nake a beceer variety of one.' and Townley never broadcasc from the same Though empty bottIes were hard co come by locacion twice - buc chen, as Espinola told o a Chile ehen descending ineo economic chaos, Townley when che American evencually rerurned he Townley home became a virtual bomb fac co Chile, 'we didn'c cry very hard'. :ory. He soon graduaced co making larger They mee by chance, or so it seemed, because >ombs from scolen dynamice and TNT, one of che Townleys' aew landlady in Sanciago was Nhich exploded in che compound of che Russian Espinoza's lover. The colonel, who possesses !mbassy in Sanciago. Townley's bombs, planced greac personal charm, courted Townley with >r chrown by young Pacria aceiviscs, gucced bus scrupulous care, Battering him wich compli ¡carions and blew up sections ofrailway line, fur ments uncil Townley was capcivaced by him, :her sabocagiog the economy. His bomb-mak much as a rabbic is mesmerised by a stoac. He ng skills became legendary in che parcy, as did expressed a~a~on . fO.r.::..Jp""I:#Y'S revolu lis willingae~ personaUy ro join che fray, which tionary aceiviiiés, about which he kitew a greac !arned him che admiration of Mariana's 'boys'. deal, and appreciaced his inventiveness in build 'He had chis amazing Bair for leadership: she ing bombs and che radio. Espinoza particularly ¡aid. 'He was a good man co have around.' admired the face chat T ownley and Mariana had fownley admics he became incoxicaced wich che choughc to work as a ceam, enabling them ro !xcicemenr of ic all. Togecher wich bis srep pose as an energetic courting couple whenever a 1aughcer's boyfriend, he set fire co a govern prowling poüce car had come across them at mene-concrolled printing planto Togecher with night and jeopardised cheir missions. He hinted Mariana, he coured che screees of Saneiago at chat in the new Chile there was a need for people nighc seleceiag cargees: he driving, she, fearless, of such imaginacion. siccing in che back of che car, lighting Molotov 'It was done very slowly, very gentIy,' says cocktails and waicing until che lasc possible mo Townley, talking of Espinoza's counship. '!t mene eo hurl chemout of che window. was: "Perhaps you could help us wich chis small Townley says their aim was tO cause descruc favour?" Then it was: "Will you do this?" Then cion racher chan deach, buc ic was never likely it was: "Please get.this done".' thac chey could complecely control che conse Townley was more chan willing co be seduced. quences of cheir aceions. Ironically, che firsc Though he remained an American citizen, he death attribuced co Townley was caused nor by had adopted Chile as his own country and pas his explosives buc by adhesive tape and rope used sionacely beüeved in che need co defend ir co gag and immobilise a vagrant found sleeping againsc 'international Marxiscs', even at the in a government-owned building in Concepción, cose of 'scern measures' imposed by a 'benevo south ofSaneiago. The man was eied up by Pacria lent dictacorship'. aceiviscs sent co sabocage radio jamming equip According to official records, Townley and ment, and he suffocaced. Mariana both became full-time agents ofDINA Though Townley was nor presene chac night, onJune 9,1974 - which was cwo weeks before he had planned che operation and been co Con the deparcmenc was officially establisbed by cepción co reconnoicre che cargec. When he presidential decree. Townley was issued DINA came under suspicion by che police, and, for papers in che name of Andrés Wilson, Mariana once, disregarding Mariana who urged him co under che alias of Ana Luisa Pizarro, and both scay and 'bluff ic ouc', Townley Bed Chile, by bus were required to swear an oath of personalloy and on fooc, walking across che mountains ineo alty to their new boss, General Contreras. Argentina, and returned ro Miami. They were under no illusions as to what was A linle over twO months later, on June 9, expected of them. Even before he became head 1973, Puro Chile became che firsc buc noc che lasc of DINA, Contreras had acquired a reputacion newspaper to brand Michael Townley as a killer. for excepcional brutalicy when, as a regional mil His phorograph appeared on che front page, icary governor in che attermach of che cóup, he under the headline 'Murderer of Concepción', Mariana recurned co Sanciago on board che firsc had concluded a set of tiresome negoÍ:iations cogecher wich a scory chac described him as an cornmercial aircraft allowed co land when che wich five crade union leaders by shooting che agent of che American CIA. Mariana and che airport reopened. Townley hesicated. Concerned men in che chesc. Contreras was hand-picked by children hurriedly followed Townley co che char even in che new Chile he mighr still be Pinochec co defend 'che new Chile', and Espinoza Uniced Scaces. wanted for 'che Concepción maceer', he delayed had warned che Townleys 'it will be war', for Thus, non e of che Townleys was presene in his recurn until, by using a friend's birth certifi enemies of the new Chile were 'everywhere'. Chile when che crowning moment of the revo cate, he had obtained a new American passport The Townleys were given a large, comforcable ¡¡ lucion came chree months lacer: when, on Sep that falsely identified him as Kenneth William house in a suburb of Santiago by DINA, which ~ cember 11, 1973, che Chilean milicary under Enyan. Ir was, as chings rurned out, a rocaily was ro serve as both home and office, where 5 che cornmand of Augusto Pinochec overthrew unnecessary acr of decepcion o TownIey established che Centre for TechnicaJ ~ che government, killed Allende and began a Research and Development. He had ambitious ~ wholesale purge of 'leftiscs' in which rhou COLONEL Pedro Espinoza, who wouId become pIans to equip DINA wich all of the cechnical ~ .~Ilnds oF oeooJe were imorisoned. kidnaDDed. second-in-command of the fearsome DINA, had gadgetry he believed ir needed to carry out ~ fare, arrest and interrogation. mainly of civilians, armed with nothing more save for one tall young man who walked up But there was a separate department ofOINA lethal than anti-Pinochet rhetoric. 'Words,' says behind the Leightons and fired twO shots at called 'Foreign Operations' which soon had Townley, 'can kili: them witb an automatic pistol. The first bullet other needs of Townley - perhaps because hit Leigbton in the back ofthe head. The second in one respect he did bear a resemblance to For IN FEBRUARY of 1975, a number of promi hit Anita in the shoulder as she turned to look at syth's JackaI: he was a foreigner, a man Chile nent Chilean exiles prepared tO fire a motherlode their assailant, who did oot saya word. He ran could disown if necessary; in Forsyth's words 'an of words at the Pinochet regime by attending away, leaving the couple lying 00 the pavemenc. unknown and therefore nonexistent quantity'. what they called the 'International Commission Miraculously, they both survived, but the bul In late September, 1974, Townley, using the of Inquiry into the Crimes of the Military Junta let tbat hit Anita grazed her spine, leaving her American passport ofKenneth Enyart, travelled in Chile' in Mexico City. Townley and Mariana semi-paralysed, and because ofthat her husband tO Buenos Aires, Argentina, where General Car were ordered by DINA tocravel to Menco and lost much ofbis will to conrinue the 6ght against los Prats, former commander of Chile's armed 'eliminate' as many ofthe attending 'enemies of the Pinochet regime. Other Chilean exiles were forces under Allende, lived in exile with bis wife, Chile' as they could find. terrorised into silence. From DINA's point oi Sophia. Prats had announced bis intendon to StOpping off en route in the US, they made view, therefore, 'Operanon Open Season', as it write his memoirs. It was a safe bet they would contaer in Union City, New Jersey, with the was called, was a considerable success. not be Battering to General Pinochet, whom Cuban Nationalist Moveinent. The CNM was a Townley did not personally shoot the Leigh Prats regarded as a mediocre soldier. fervencly rigbt-wing group ofexiles that, unable tons; he could not have done so because he lefe On what would be me last day of their lives, to do much about their nemesis Fidel Castro, Rome before it happened, heading for the Aus General Praes and his wife drove out of Buenos took some comfort in aiding Chile's robust war trian-ltalian border. But though he will not taIk Aires tO lunch in the country, then retumed to on other 'Communiscs', in retum for a promise about bis involvement 'at this time', there is lit me city to spend the evening with de doubt that he caused it, sul¡>-conrracting the friends. It was afeer midnight when job to a . .neo.-fascisF~rroris'tI , 8roup in Rome they got back to the block of Bats which, among other things, is generally held res where they lived, and me general 'It doesn't take much ponsible for the 1980 bombing ofBologna rail got Out oftheir Fiat tO open thé gar way station in which 85 people died. age door. He was JUSt getting back Not long afeer the shoocing of che Leightons, into me car when a bomb exploded, knowledge to . ten members of the group, induding íts leader, che force of it hilrling the entire atrived in Santiago and stayed at the Townleys' bonnet ofthe Fiat on tO the roof ofa home for weeks. According ro Mariana they nine-storey building. The general, make a Molotov cocktail. were 'strange, strange people' who brought tOO, was hurled through che air, his with them their own ccok. 'He bothered me right arm and leg severed. He died immensely,' she told the BBC. '1 never had the instandy when bis head hic the Ijust make a chance to go inro my own kitchen because he pavement. Sophia Pracs's grossly was forever stirring the sauce: mutilared body was incinerated in By then Mariana had become thoroughly dis the wreckage. better variety of one' illusioned with DINA. The assassinations she and Townley were ordered to carry out no longer WE HAVE moved from the Holi seemed rational to her. 'Every time thac some day Inn to an halian restaurant thing happened, they [DINA] would give me Townley knows, where the chef prepares che of mutual support. The CNM supplied the what they thought was an excellenc reason for calamari in accordance with Townley's precise Townleys wirh explosives and the services of a doing things. Actually they all sounded like instructions. It arrives in a hot, blood-red Cuban assistant, Virgilio Paz, and the (hree of awfullies; like exaggerations or just pIain lies .' tomato sauce which seems perversely appropri thcm set off by camper-van for Mexico. As it While the couple were in Europe she asked ate, for we are discussing the morality ofblowing háppened, they arrived too late to do any dam Townley to get another job, 'for us to leave, to go up men and women in their cars. age: the conference in Mexico City had ended someplace else'. But, she says, 'Michael was Townley will not discuss the murder of the and Chile's leading exiles had retumed to already entrapped. He was the By fallen into che Prats - other than to say it is 'a matter of Europe where most of rhem were based. Bur spider's web: record' that he was in Argentina shortly before it Townley, Paz and -later - Mariana followed And there was at least one more very promi occurred - but he does defend political assas them there, basing themselves in Madrid. 'For nent Chilean exile DINA wanted dead. sination in the abstraer as a sometimes 'neces the next nine months, on and off, rhey gathered sary evil'. Every stare recognises that fact, he intelligence on the Chilean expatriate commu THE ASSASSINATION of Orlando Lecelier argues, for every state - to a greater or lesser nity and considered how best to terrorise it. was to take place in Washington OC and was extent than Chile - has employed secret agents DINA selected as their principal target for supposed to look like a mugging. Colonel prepared to 'get their hands dirry' for the assassination Carlos Altamirano, the secretary Espinoza, who passed Townley his orders, national good. general of the Chilean Socialist Parry. But thought it amusing that, given that city's high He lists some of those countries he says have because he lived in Leipzig in what was then East crime rate, the murder would go almost unno engaged in dirty, secret wars: 'The Brits in Germany he proved too difficult to get at ticed; just one more item on the police blotter. Ir Northern Ireland and elsewhere, the Germans, though Townley repeatedly teied to intercept did not turn out that way, of course, le would the Italians, the Israelis, the Turks, the Ameri him whenever Altamirano ventured into West prove to be Townley's undoing, and eventually cans ofcourse .. : Does that make it right, 1 ask. ern Europe. Growing impatient for resuIts, it wouId cause the downfall ofDINA, Espinoza 'No, but let's do away with the hypocrisy,' he DINA substituted as a target Bernardo Leigh and even General Contreras. says. 'Oon'( call the kettle black without admit ton, the respected co-founder of Chile's Chris Letelier was targeted because he failed ro heed ting there are pots: tian Democrat Party, who, since he lived in a warning. Having served the Allende govern 1 concede his point but press him on his defini Rome, was much more accessible. ment as ambassador ro Washington, chen for tion of;a necessary evil'. Did he believe that the In the early evening of October 6, 1975, eign minister, then, in the final days, defence end couId ever jusrify the means when those the 60-year-old Leighron and his wife, Anita, minister, he was arrested during che military means were cold-blooded murder? He hesitates returned from a shopping trip, walking arm-in coup and imprisoned for two days shoet of ayear. before replying: '1 have to say it can.' What end? arm along Via Aurelia, the narrow cobblestoned Released only because of international pressure 'One death that prevents many others: But street where they lived, dose ro the walls ofVati on Sepcember 9, 1974, he was sent inco exile 40 TELEGRAPH MAGAZINE <1m oisbroent thac che Pinochet cion when he learned char his Cuban accomplices nobody else, gave che order for - among other ;. witb the Item a ~:;,¡c tolerate bis interference. had chosen ro deronace rhe bomb noC on a quier things - che assassinacion of Lecelier, and co -nunenc wOuld - f k ' . ¡ 8v.~ ti as incapable o eepmg qwec. screrch of suburban road as chey were supposed cake bis medicine. Until he does, says Town1ey, I BtLeteer w . . u ext cwo rears, based m Washmgron co do buc on Sheridan Circle, direcdy oucside che it is Chile that suffers in terros ofics incernacional Por the n orked for the Insticute ofPolicy Scud- Chilean embassy: 'Perhaps ic was very smare, prescige and reputation because 'Concreras has h where. Letelier e w worked tire. lid ess y to un enrune . because chat way nobody would ever believe passed off bis own guilc on co an encire nacion'. ~; militar}' regime with rus fiery, eloquent chat che Chileans would be dumb enough co Concreras seems unlikely to oblige. Under speeches. Less than twO weeks before he died, have done ic: questioning by a judge in Sanciago, he has he was che keynoce speaker at a rally held. in Unforcunacely for Town1ey, tWo very scub denied any knowledge ofLetelier's assassinacion. Madison Square Garden, New York, co com born men - an Assiscanc US Arrorney named Indeed, he continues co insist, as he has all along, memorace the chird anniversary of che over Eugene Propper and che FBI case agent, Career chat Townley was never a DINA agenc; chac, as throw ofAllende. 'In the name ofour dead ones,' Cornick - came ro believe precisely chac and, aforeigner, he could noc have been. bis speech began. He went on co describe che chough ic chem took nearIy 18 monchs, chey Becrayed and disowned by his general, Town1ey Pinochec governmenc as 'che mosc repressive builc a case scrong enough co demand Townley's lives alone wich bis guilc. 'There is nothing 1 can regime the world has known since the desccuc extradicion from Chile. In March 1978, for che do ro change whac happened,' he says. '1 can go cion of fascism and Nazism in Europe'. By chen, second cime in bis life, Townley saw bis own pic insane, I could kill myself . .. But life goes on.' Townley was already in America, arranging co cure on che front page of a Chilean newspaper have him killed. under a headline chac branded him a killer. Even IN 1979 Michael Vernon Townley pleaded He chose co use a bomb because, although so, he did noc really believe che Chilean govern guilty ro che murders of Orlando Letelier and Espinoza had cold him co carry ouc che assassina menc would hand him over co che Americans. RDnni Moffitr, che young woman who also died cion as innocuously as possible, he had also said Afeer all, he was a soldier who had merely in che Sheridan Circl.e~b\ng: In recurn foc co 'che main ching is ro gec ic done'. Once again, obeyed orders. He had done whac he did for che operating' with US authoritiésl' and testifying Townley cumed co bis fanatical Cuban friends scace - or had he? against bis Cuban co-conspirarors, he was given fOl help and chey provided che explosives and Townley was hustled ouc ofChile wich no due a reduced sencence of cen years imprisonmenc. two assiscants - but only on one condicion: process in April1978. Ic was on che aircraft chac He was released on parole after serving a litde char Townley noc only build che bomb, bur also took him back to che U nited Scates in handcuffs more chan three years, and began his life in hid planc ir himself. 'They wanted che hand ofChile thac Townley first began co believe what is now ing. Mariana lives in Chile where she is an directly involved,' says Townley. his firm conviccion: chac much ofwhac he did for accomplished writer. She lefe Townley in 1983 So ic was char on a Sepcember nighc in 1976, DINAwas no! auchorised by che Pinochec - as he always knew she would. O Townley lay Bac on his back in che driveway of government. He now believes chac che dircy war Lecelier's home in Bechesda, Maryland, accach in which he foughc was che personal campaign of '!nside Story T:--,<:! .....ssa..ss:n.· i'.":'l~te;¡ a:.c ing his bomb co che underside ofa blue Chevelle. General Concreras who thus 'betrayed me, che ór<::ctec by C;1I'is:"~phe:, O:5Ia~1. '.'Till be Was he nervous? 'Ican barely recall any of che insticucion he belonged co, and his councry'. b;,oaccas~ ')!: BBCl Ol' l,'I:::d.'1ssca:: at 9.3Jpm decails,' he says. Whac he does reCall is his reac- He wancs Concreras ro admic chac he, and
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