PINOCHET IS LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91B00134R000400130023-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 4, 2009
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: November 19, 1979
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2009/02/04: CIA-RDP91 B001 34R000400130023-1
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE Z. P-3?
Still,, there are many who wonder why
there is all the hem and haw over Chile in
official Washington. Putting aside, just for
the moment, U.S. investment since the
coup, one may legitimately .wonder. what
other factors might cause:Pinochet to be
treated with kid gloves..CQuld' it-be that
the.looseends of the U.S. covert legacy in
Chile still thread, through Washington like.-
so many exposed electrical wires?... .:;
? Did the U..S._milita y participate in.
the- coup? "Reports that: we had advance
knowledge, of this.. coup 'are - incorrect,'
Nixon.' .press secretary Gerald. Warren de
clared on: Septeraber..13, .197a:':?Yet .'a =Le-:
gion of.. Merit. citation -from 'the' -: U.S'.
Marine Corps.to-Lieutenant Colonel Pa
trick: J. ..Ryan; . head ' of. the- U.S. Naval
Mission to Chile at?-the time, praises. the
officer forwaming a'U.S.-Navy task force
to: stay clear of. Chile onSeptember:10
becaus'e :, its - presence ...could' complicate
events. .the :coiip:??The: late-Paul
Jacobs obtained the citation wiiile.report-
ing on the .intirder :of Charles_Hornian, a-
iyoung Americari_filmmaker, in??the after-
I math of thecoup:.Accordin g to a Chilean
'r security officer.: who.defected 'in 1975;
"Charles- Hormarr was"killed.becausehe
knew too 'much.-Arid this was done be-.
tween the CIA and the local authorities."
Horman had spent-part of -the. last few
days of his: life. with Lieutert3nt Colonel
'Patrick'J:.':Ryan`and=Navy _Captain.'Ray
Davis, who signed Ryan's eitation.:..
The Chilean embassywas targeted for
a. series of break-ins in'1972. According to
an informant of. the FBI;-Bernard Barker.
-'vias involved 14n those break-ins, -Author
David Wise also established: that the FBI
had planted ..bugs in- 'the: embassy 0,-the
CIA's request:_The.complete..story of.the
".break-ins has never'beeri uncovered.
?-` .
g'HE VILLAGE VOICE
19'November 1979
The- story-of I'L'I" soffer: td?finance secret police-of the-' Southern Cone '.dic=
anti -Allende ac-tivities`l's weli known: Ac- tatoships into Operation .Condor; a world-?
cording. to _ the. CIA, the offers were turn ed vide "assassination~co-op. According ? to
;down.. Less weir known -=isthe story of- Senate Foreign Relations Committee files;
Brazilian help. in'Allende s overthrow- Ac- 'srcn Condor began to set up a' Tiami
;cording 3o ar:Wc~hingto.m,Post -story: by' office in 1975 Henry Kissinger objected to-
Marlise?Simons'tn.197d, the.- Brazilian In=: the efforts of some State. Department of-
stitute?of Political'Ecoriomic; and Social' Gcers:to rebuke Chile 'publicly: Instead;.
Studies-...(IP'ES).- advised Chilean-'-` "quiet orders were given to Contreras to
nessinen=-in`.hoW'-t& overthrew A.llendle, foie .his tents. Later;..as*.part of Condor,
196 c Contreras tried. to enlist*Paraguay to get
the U.S. was instrumental) as a model. Townley a visa -to enter the U.S_: on- the
"The recipe exists, and you can bake the Letelier hit mission but-..theL;plan:
cake. any time," a founder of IPES .told ; backfired. The reason itbackfired,_accord.-r
Simons. "We saw how it worked in Brazil, f rng to. some accounts,..is: that
and now again in Chile . , . A lot of money bassador - George Landau queried" then
was put out to topple Allende." CIA covert deputy director of the CIA Vernon Walters
action specialist David Phillips was re- and alarms-went up. Beyond that,'.little is.
called from Brazil in 1970 to take over the definitively known about Walter's subse-..
CIA's Chile. Task Force. - :.. , quent actions in regard to Townley.Wha
? Michael Townleyand the CIA: Those is known is that the FBI had pictures of
who have closely followed the Letelier case Townley within. a- month' of the' Letelier.
have long been intrigued by DIANA agent `assassination but was not- able.to connect
MichaelTownley's contacts with the CIA. the pictures to the name: Considering the.'
and American embassy officials in San- above events and the close: CIA ;DINA
tiago prior to the coup, and his mission to relationship after the-coup, wny did it,.take - i
kill Letelier .On two:occasions.in Miami,- so:lo.9- In%estigators.insi t. there was no
effort on the CIA's art to sto ewail them.__,
in 1970 and again in" 1973, Townley called P p
.up the CIA station, told- them:. he was: ? CI.A agents in..the Pinocher-*jbnta= It:
returning -to' Chile, .: and-.offered hisser- is interesting to note that one of the princi-
vices: The CIA went so far:as to;clear ple Chilean negotiators in the Letelierc'ase::
Townley -for a recruitment'pitch,;.but-a ` was publishing magnate Hernan Cubillos,:?
cording to records the.,agency turned. over' who became foreign minister in April 1978,
to the court 'he was?never. hired:. Ba?ithin days of. the expulsion of.DINA:
.Santiago during-.the .Allende' period; agent Michael Townley to the_,U_S:=
Cubillos accordin to .4 is
umen
su
:
,
Townley soon became active with Patna y g:
Libertad, right wing terrorist -,group mitted iii camera to.U. S. District-Court ut
which received some CLA funding and-at? connection -with the?rfT/Chile inveshga !
tion, was a CIA agent_The CIA successful-
the. same time fostered-iriendships.?with.
embassy officials particularly-.Fred ly-kept names of other,Chileair"assets'
-Purdy, the' U.S.' consul- Townley was'.re out of the Church committee's-report: It is
cruited by DL`4A after the, coup, and soon not out of -the question tha ;:faint:' hearts )
received orders .. to carry out.missions~on dealing with' the?Letelier;case'at..thel'
several: continents:. It.was?the periodwhen highest levels>:of the goveimtaent> would:
`DI\.A h'ef ntreras was or anizina'the -like to keep- this Pandora's-box'firmly?:I'
shut.
Approved For Release 2009/02/04: CIA-RDP91 B00134R000400130023-1