WASHINGTON — 1976 · Murder
The Assassination of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt
On 21 September 1976 Orlando Letelier, a former foreign and defence minister under Allende and the leading exiled opponent of the Pinochet regime, was killed by a remotely detonated bomb planted under his car at Sheridan Circle on Washington's Embassy Row. His 25-year-old American colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt, in the passenger seat, also died; her husband survived with minor injuries. The attack was carried out by Chile's secret police, DINA, with Cuban exiles as part of Operation Condor. The DINA agent who built the bomb pleaded guilty in the U.S., and DINA's two top officials were convicted in Chile in 1993. Declassified CIA records indicate that Pinochet personally ordered the killing.
- Date
- 1976
- Place
- Sheridan Circle, Washington D.C., USA, Washington, US
- Category
- Murder
- Case Status
- Solved
- Coordinates
- 38.9118, -77.0500 ↗
Timeline of Events
- 21 September 1976A car bomb exploded at Sheridan Circle, killing Letelier and Moffitt.
- 1978The DINA operative who built the bomb pleaded guilty in the U.S.
- 1979Three Cuban exiles were convicted in Washington; the verdicts were later overturned on appeal.
- 1993DINA's director and his deputy were convicted in Chile.
- 2015Declassified documents indicated that Pinochet ordered the killing.
Sources
- Zinn Education Project — Sept. 21, 1976: Sheridan Circle Car Bomb zinnedproject.org ↗
- The Nation — A Modicum of Justice for Ronni Karpen Moffitt thenation.com ↗
- Wikipedia — Assassination of Orlando Letelier en.wikipedia.org ↗
- Zinn Education Project
- The Nation
- Wikipedia
Source grade A: several independent sources, at least one an official record or reference work. If you spot a mistake or something missing, report it with "Suggest a correction" in the app.
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🕯️ This record was prepared with respect, in memory of those who lost their lives.