The Bomb Under Pinochet the Letelier-Moffiif Assassinations Shake the Chilean Regime
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NATIONAL NEWS 4.- 4:13::::::388:848:00;14agOviintaitinialipaa" The Bomb Under Pinochet The Letelier-Moffiif Assassinations Shake the Chilean Regime BY JOANNE BARKAN Circle, just a short distance from the June and August, Williams or perhaps Chilean Embassy, a bomb attached to the both had met with Cuban exiles suspected On Saturday evening April 8, the air- I-beam below the driver's seat exploded. of involvement in planting the bomb craft carrying Michael Vernon Townley, Letelier, his legs blown off in the blast, under Letelier's car. an American citizen deported from Chile died shortly afterwards in a hospital. Less Less than two weeks later, the right at the request of the U.S. Justice Depart- than a half-hour later, 25-year-old Ronni wing Chilean newspaper El Mercurio ment, landed in Baltimore, and so began Moffitt, her carotid artery pierced, reported that the names on the passports the critical phase of the investigation of drowned in her own blood. Michael and in the Justice Department's letters Chilean-exile leader Orlando Letelier's Moffitt escaped with minor injuries. were false and that one of the men was in assassination—an investigation that is Isabel Letelier, widow of the slain exile fact an American, Michael Townley, a shaking General Augusto Pinochet's iron leader, and Moffitt were convinced that well-known activist of the extreme-right grip on Chile. the assassinations were the work of organization Patria y Libertad, who had "A high State Department official told DINA, the Chilean secret police. been living in Chile for 20 years. Townley, us that Pinochet's days are numbered For nearly a year and a half, the U.S. 35-years old and born in Waterloo, Iowa, because of his involvement in the murder," Justice Department seemed to be making fled Chile in early 1973 after taking part a spokesperson for Washington's Insti- little headway on the case for reasons that in a Patria y Libertad action at a radio tute for Policy Studies, where Letelier was have not yet surfaced. Then on February station during which a night watchman working at the time of his assassination, 21 of this year, the department sent was killed. Townley also figures in a 1974 informed Seven Days. "letters interrogatories" to the Chilean report on U.S. counterrevolutionary Michael Townley, who was arraigned government asking that Juan Williams activity in Chile published by the North April 10 before a U.S. magistrate as a Rose and Alejandro Romeral Jara be American Congress on Latin America material witness, is the link between those questioned by a Chilean court on behalf (NACLA) and is said by sources in Chile who planted and detonated the plastic of the U.S. government. to work for the CIA. bomb that killed Letelier and Ronni "Once the letters were sent," says On March 7, Chilean military sources Karpen Moffitt in Washington and those Isabel Letelier, "everything began to identified Alejandro Romeral Jara as who ordered the assassination in Chile. happen." Armando Fernandez Larios, an army On April 14, police and FBI agents The two men, it was revealed, had captain who took part in the assault on arrested Alvin Ross Diaz and Guillermo entered the United States several times in the presidential palace during the coup, Novo Sampol, both right wing Cuban 1976 with official Chilean passports. In and who is a DINA agent. exiles preparing to flee the United States, after explosives and detonating equip- Michael Moffitt and Isabel Leteller mourn their murdered spouses. UPI ment had been found in a Union City, N.J., shop that Ross once operated. Michael Townley is now known to have met with Novo and other Cuban exiles in the U.S. in June 1976. The case is breaking open after 19 months of sensitive and highly secret investigations handled by the FBI. During this period relations between the U.S. government and Pinochet have become increasingly strained: His regime is a source of irritation here because of both its brutal character and the well-documented involvement of the CIA and U.S. corpo- erns rations in Chilean affairs leading up to the 1973 military coup. The Letelier-Moffitt case dates back to September 21, 1976. That morning Letelier —who had served the Popular Unity government of Salvador Allende as ambassador to the United states and as minister of the Interior, Defense and Foreign Affairs—was driving Institute colleagues Michael and Ronni Moffitt to work. As the car turned into Sheridan 6 May 5, 1978 NATIONAL NEWS The Junta: Generals Leigh (far right) and Pinochet (next to hint) are now at odds. Alain Keller I Sygma After weeks of stalling, and under passports to Townley and Fernandez take control out of Pinochet's hands. The pressure from the U.S. government which under false names and signed the request navy too is moving toward this position. reportedly threatened to recall its ambas- to the U.S. consulate for their diplomatic The weekend of April I, General Leigh sador and disclose all it knows about the visas, was murdered. Authorities at first was in Washington where he is known to assassinations, the Chilean government claimed that he had committed suicide; have met with Pentagon officials. authorized Townley and Fernandez to be "heart attack" was written on the death But since General Leigh has previously questioned by the Chilean Supreme Court. certificate. But when the body was ex- expressed his preference for a fascist The questioning took place on April 1. humed, it was found that Osorio had been regime similar to those of Mussolini and Townley was apparently "unresponsive" shot in the head at a distance. Franco, the call for elections and civilian to questions about contacts with right It was then learned that three generals rule could be just a public relations effort. wing Cuban exiles in the U.S. and had accompanied Osorio from an official According to Moffit, however, a invoked the Fifth Amendment against lunch for some Peruvian diplomats to his change in the form of government is self-incrimination. house where they shot him. "They killed possible. "If Pinochet falls, there will be "I think Townley was more of a him because he followed orders," says more political activity. The Christian messenger boy," says Moffitt. "Pinochet Letelier, "and could tell who gave those Democrats will try to bargain for some- ordered the murders," orders." thing less repressive. The U.S. government Soon after the court finished question- One of the three generals, Enrique would probably like to see Eduardo Frei ing Townley and Fernandez, Pinochet Valdes Puga, was Deputy Foreign Minis- [President of Chile before the Popular announced the release of about 400 ter and Osorio's superior; another was Unity government and a Christian Demo- prisoners, authorized the return to Chile Manuel Contreras Sepulveda. General crat] come back." of Jaime Castillo Velasco, vice-president Contreras was Pinochet's closest associate The U.S. investigation has relied heavily of the Christian Democratic Party and and the head of the secret police from the on FBI informers in Cuban exile commu- another lawyer (the two had drawn up 1973 coup until last October. (An internal nities here and on CIA help in foreign detailed reports on the illegal activities of struggle over Pinochet's control and a countries. According to New York Times Chile's secret police) and released and desire to present a better image led the sources, the investigators have not fully exiled two air force officers imprisoned junta to officially disband DINA last exploited information in CIA files and for allegedly giving military secrets to the August. The new National Intelligence had obtained the names of Townley and outlawed Socialist Party. Center took over DINA's operations.) Fernandez months ago but did not act on "Thc U,S. press is reporting all this." On March 21 of this year, Contreras the information, says Isabel Letelier, "as if Pinochet were suddenly resigned from the armed forces. More on the Justice Department's a benevolent dictator, rather than how it's He is now under house arrest, reportedly handling of the investigation, as well as obvious that he's trying to cover up." for his involvement in Osorio's death. Townley's alleged connection with the Pinochet also seems to be using any The strains in the junta are clear. In CIA, may be uncovered in the next few means available to keep from being direct- March, one member, General Gustavo months, but a few things now seem clear. ly implicated in the Letelier assassination. Leigh, who is commander of the air force "The anti-Pinochet forces in the State "He's trying to 'stonewall'," says Moffitt, and belongs to the Patria y Libertad Department," says the source at the Insti- "blame it on a lesser officer, stop it lower faction of the right wing, called for the tute for Policy Studies, "are holding sway. down." present junta's replacement with new They've got Pinochet on murder commit- One of those people lower down is commanders who would prepare for ted in the United States, and everyone is now dead. elections by 1980 and a rapid return to mad." [n October 1977, Guillermo Osorio, the civilian rule. General Leigh has the The General's days in power could foreign ministry official who issued the support of the air force in his move to indeed be numbered. Saran Duys tti, .