A CITIZENS GROUP' S HOT PLOT: CIA-FBI FOREKNOWLEDGE OF LETELIER BOMBING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680049-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 49
• Publication Date: July 8, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680049-9
ON -->GE,
r S JC'T~'.1 :f::KLY
July 1980
:.byI 1rlcBidweft-
`'A citizen's group has.Jearned-after a.twayear;
investigation-that former off cars and, agents: of
the Central. Intelligence-- Agency< were - ac ies ::
both-before and after the fact ut-thej etehts-Mof
fitt murders.'!
This report:was -part o a mailgram seat as mem
bers of the Washington?pien corps invitingthenrto?
a press conference os0une-2S,-1980-aV?theUnited
Methodist Building in Washington; D.C. The mail-
gram from Donald. Freed of Los Angeles-promised
that. evidence= would-be presented that. would-show;
.that both the FBi and-CIA had foreknowledge of;;
the murder plot; against .Orlando Letelier the.
former Chilean cabinet minister lathe Marxist Al
lende government. Letelier was- killed in Washing
ton; D.C. in September l97&
Nothing was said. at- the:.press conferencethat..
provided any credible evidence-that either the CIA
or the- FBI were-accessories-to? theymurder-..ofOr-
lando. Letelier. Donald' Freed the leader of', the'
group that ailed the press conferences promised that
a Newsday-._seposter~>=-Johst - Ghmmings, ':would'-
charge that the FBI and-the CIA both had advance.;
knowledge-of the plot on.Letelier. and that aforater
U.S. attorney-"knew where the-orders came from."
Mr. Cummingsfailed to live up to that billing
Another- member of: thee*graup,; Fred: Landis,
focused on the charge that Letelier'skiller. Michael
Townley, was under the control of a Croat =named
Rafael_Otero_Echeverria. He daimedthat_Oterp ?
had worked forthe during ft-Allende years in,-
Chile, but offered-na proer_Nor-did- he submit any,
proof that Otero was a-controkfor Michael Townley=
- or that Otero had: any. Cl4connection a? the time of
the Letelierassaidnation,...
A fourth-member of-the group; Dr. - William F
Pepper; complained that the FBI and- CIA. hadre
fused to make their files oni Townley, available to
the group. Pepper, who was the originator of a dis-
credited 1967 charge- that -. the. United- States had,
been responsible. for killing or? :wounding a millivn:-
children in. Vietnam, also charged that the greatest
threat to freedom of the press in this country today
is that "the people, the masses, are--digesting.
slanted, interpreted accounts-often written in- the
halls of-intelligence-of very critical 'events."'
Pepper provided-' no evidence = to back up that,
charge = ; -
The- only exictemes}t at this overly. hyped' press
conference- came-when' Reed. Irvine, editor of the
AIM Report; asked- the- members of- the: group if
they agreed with CIA defector Philip "Agee's state-
ment-that the KGB was doing good things because'
they-.were..pn the-right side. Did.they approve of
covert operations when?carried out by the. KGB or
the Cuban DGI and disapprove when they were car-
rigid out.by the CIA.?=
Lan dismadealengthy speech`tuieplyur-which he
said that-the.CIA,uses'tht KGB anal b communists'
as scapegoat's. Irvine said that Landis had not- an-
swered his question= and- insisted that he and ? the
other members-of ,tom group. answer it. Donald
Freed, who several years ago had beat a charge that.'.
he- had sold-grenades to a: Black Panther with the
defense- that he had been the victim of .an agent.,
provocateur,-aceused Irvine of causing-a- "provoca=
tiori." When one of themembers'of the group said .
he.was willing fo answer the question the following
dialogue ensued:
Freed :l want you to see howprovocation is-let
me handle this.
--'' Irvine:.: The question-has not-been- anwered and 13
demand an-answer
Freed: Watch me r anch see how provocation- is
handled: Listen to me:carefullyunder his. shouting. ;
'This- is an agent- provocateur; and I wanf you - Ito-
watch carefully his- mode of operation.
Member of audience: Who are you? t
Irvine: I am -Reed -Irvine, editor, of the AIM ?`
Report.
Freed''Watch- him- carefully. The AIM Report is
one of the groups that spreads "stories that' the
Letelier. murder was aleftwing:plot.
Irvine: That.is not true
Freed: 'T'his gentleman works with David Atlee
Phillips.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680049-9