Marcos Orlando Letelier del Solar was a Chilean economist, politician and diplomat during the presidency of Salvador Allende. A refugee from the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, Letelier accepted several academic positions in Washington, D.C. following his exile from Chile.
The Assassination
Remembering the assassination of Orlando Letelier refers to the 21 September 1976 car bombing in Washington, D.C., US, in which Orlando Letelier was killed along with his work colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt, who was in the car with her husband Michael. The assassination was carried out by agents of the Chilean secret police (DINA) and was one of many carried out as part of Operation Condor.
Declassified U.S. intelligence documents confirm that Pinochet directly ordered the killing. His outspoken critism caused one european country to stop lending money to chile. This made chilean agents prepare a bomb and silenced him forall. Surprisingly the assassin Michael Townley who carried out the murder plot was a chilean secret service but was born in IOWA, united states.
When it turned out one was a US national it made the FBI stronger and why was a US national working with a chilean secret service? It was easy to bring the guy back in united states and face the charges.
Townley said he made a bomb in a motel room and attached it to letelier car at night. The Cuban’s were anxious to create ties to the right wing Chilean secret police, so they agreed to help. Townley arranged for the Cuban’s to set the bomb off. He then flew to Florida, leaving two of the Cuban’s with the remote control. A driver in a car nearby would later describe the fiery impact of the blast: “I saw an automobile actually coming down out of the air.” The smoldering wreck lurched to a halt in front of the Romanian Embassy, its windows blown open and entire floor panel gone.
A police officer who arrived on the scene remembered welling up with nausea. There was blood and debris everywhere and a human foot in the roadway. A fatally wounded man lay on the pavement; his legs were missing from above the knees.
Letelier died within minutes. Shrapnel had pierced Ronni Moffitt’s throat, and she drowned in her own blood a half-hour later. Michael, who had been sitting in the back seat, tumbled out largely unscathed. He was beside himself in grief and shock.