'MISSING': OSCAR NOMINEE AND TARGET OF A LIBEL SUIT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302820001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 2, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302820001-7
STAT
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Ch PAC
GUARDIAN (US)
`Missing': Oscar nominee,
and target of a level suit
ILI
h
By PETER KORNBLUH
Last week the powerful motion picture
"Missing," Hollywood's most significant
political production of 1982, was nominated
for an Oscar as best movie of the year.
Based on Thomas Hauser's book, "The
Execution of Charles Horman: An American
'Sacrifice," "Missing" depicts the true sexy
of the disappearance and death of a U.S.
citizen in the aftermath of the bloody Sept.
11, 1973, military coup in Chile. and the
efforts of his father and wife to find out what
happened to him. For thousands of
moviegoers previously unaware of the U.S.
intervention that contributed to the coup the
movie exposes the Nixon administration's
Complicity in Chile's nation.l tragedy. as
-'well as the role of the U.S. government in
the personal tragedy of the Norman family.
But now three former officials of the U.S.
Embassy in Santiago have brought a $ISO
million libel suit against the film's director-
Konstantinos Costa Gavras-Universal Stu-
dios and Hauser. Former Ambassador
Nathaniel Davis, Consul Frederick Purdy,
and head of the U.S. military mission in
Chile. Captain Ray Davis, contend that
allegations of U.S. government responsibil-
ity for Hnnnan's death, and/or coverup of
his murder, are "false, unfair. inaccurate
and defamatory."
The Horman family has responded with a
press statement that reads in part: "The film
'Missing' has raised issues about American
foreign policy which deserve (the gravest
consideration.... We consider this libel
action an effort to intimidate the film
industry from bringing controversial sub-
jects before the American public."
Charles Horman was the first U.S. citizen
to be murtlrred by the Pinochet regime.
Evidence obtained through the Freedom of
infonnation Act, and uncovered by the
family and by author Hauser during a
lengthy investigation, strongly suggests that
Harman was targt'tr(l because he had
learned of U.S. involvement in the coup and
that U.S.personnel may have had foreknow-
ledge of his execution. Horman's father,
Edmund, who has spent almost 10 years
trying to' uncover the details of his son's
death, is convinced that Charles's life "was
sacrificed to cover up American actions in
Chile."
e auser on ep .
According to t
11, 1973. Charles Horman was, by coinci
dence, in Vina del Mar where the coup was
initiated., At the Miramar Hotel, where a
number of U.S. military personnel were
staying,.Horman met a Naval "engineer"
named Arthur Creter (Babcock in the movie)
who told him, "We came down to do a job
and it's done." , .1 1 Horman also met, and was aided by. U.S.
officials later shown to be on Intimate terms
with the Chilean coup plotters. The U.S.
naval attache, Lt. Col. Patrick Ryan (Sean
Patrick in the film) cabled his superiors after
the coup that "our D-day started with a
foreboding 0630 hammering'on the front
door by Ignacio Martinez, a retired Marine
officer and a very,close.friend... one of the
key local planners in the coup d'etat...
Ignacio recommended all U.S. personnel
stay undercover, asked for our prayers and
then rushed off to carry out his duties."
Ryan arranged for Horman 'and his -
traveling companion, Terri Simon, to be
driven back to Santiago ,by Captain Ray
Davis on Sept. 15, 1973.
On Sept. 17, Horman was dragged from
his home and taken to the National Stadium
where the new military regime was
processing, and executing, hundreds of
prisoners. According to Hauser, Horman
was apparently a special case; he was taken
to the Defense Ministry. According to a
Chilean intelligence officer who was at the
ministry, a U.S. citizen was present at
Charles's interrogation. The decision was
made, Rafael Gonzalez later testified, that
Norman "knew too much" and had to
"disappear." "And this was done between
the CIA and the local authorities," Gonzalez
says.
When Hauser published these startling
revelations in 1978, his book received no
official attention. But when "Missing" was
released last year with its potential to inform
thousands of people, the State Department
was quick to react. It released a 3-page
memorandum to the press stating that U.S.
efforts to locate Borman were "Intensive
and comprehensive." The Stale Department
O,WP LT7
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302820001-7