on that morning, september 21, 1976, orlando letelier was an employee of a think tank in washington called the institute for policy studies. he was driving his car to work. he lived in that direction in bethesda, maryland. he came down embassy row, massachusetts avenue, lined with several embassies. in the car with him were two colleagues from ips, ronni moffitt and her husband michael moffitt. they turned the corner over here and unbeknownst to them, following them was a gray sedan. in that gray sedan were two cuban-americans who had helped put a bomb underneath the driver's seat in the chevelle that orlando letelier was driving. the order to put the bomb in there was given by the secret police of chile, and chile was ruled at the time by pinochet, a dictator, who didn't like the political activities that orlando letelier, a former ambassador to the united states from chile, was taking on in washington, and so we know now that it was the dictator who ordered the secret police to assassinate him. and so they did this partly through an american-chilean michael townley who came to washington

to memorialize the assassination of orlando letelier. at the same time, ronni moffitt, a u.s. citizen, was also killed in this car bomb, and all of this happened here in sheridan circle in the heart of nbc row in washington, d.c. on that morning of september 21st, 1976, orlando letelier was an employee of a think tank in washington called the institute for policy studies. he was driving his car to work. he lived in that direction. in bethesda, maryland. he came down embassy row, massachusetts avenue, lined with several embassies. in the car with him were two colleagues from isp, ronni moffitt and her husband michael moffitt. they turned the corner over here and unbeknownst to them, following them was a gray sedan. in that gray sedan were two cuban americans who had helped put a bomb underneath the driver's seat in the chevelle that orlando letelier was driving. the order to put the bomb in there was given by d.i.n.a., which was the secret police of chile, and chile was ruled at that time by a dictator who didn't like the political activities that orlando letelier, a former amb

but you will love the surprise, orlando letelier insisted. come and get me at 12:30 and leave your work for the afternoon. isabel letelier exceeded. after all her husband was a charmer. besides, there was no time to argue. it was 9:00 a.m., time for orlando to go to work at the institute for policy studies in washington, d.c.'s dupont circle. he'd been at the leftist think tank for nearly two years, using isp as a platform to undermine general authorization toe pinochet the iron-fisted dictator. he had been ambassador to the united states then his mens ter with three portfolios. now as a private citizen, he exposed pinochet's human rights atrocities, incited boycotts and discouraged investment. two of orlando's colleagues happened to right with him that day. michael and microsoronni moffit 25 and recently married. isabel barely had time to kiss him good-bye. orlando took the wheel of his 1975 chevrolet chevelle malibu classic. out of gallantry, micheal moffitt opened the front door for ronni. in less than an hour orlando and ronni would be de

on october 4, an unknown male called orlando letelier's aunt, maria. he said,aria, maria," condescendingly, "talking to the fbi will not help you. your legs will be spread in washington, d.c., just like orlando's." and then he hung up. in november, a flight attendant wast to join her crew standing at kennedy airport, rifling through her purse for her keys. suddenly, a man grabbed her arm and yanked her around. "you tell your little friend keep his fucking nose out of our chile's business, or you won't be so pretty anymore. boom boom. you know what i mean?" these kinds of things happened over and over again in the investigation, to the fbi, to the lawyers, and of course to anyone who talked to the fbi. if they can do this and get away with it under the nose of the cia and fbi, said president-elect jimmy carter, in november of 1976, then no president can govern. he was talking about the letelier assassination. on the one hand, carter meant that such a brazen attack was of a u.s. citizen on american soil was unacceptable, making whether republican or demo