CIA HELPED CHILE RECRUIT CUBAN KILLERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680054-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 54
• Publication Date: February 24, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680054-3
F AG?A~ '~
ON
were shot to death in
Africa home in Novembt
Another couple, Chi
leader Bernardo Leight
wife Ana, were seriousl'
an unsuccessful ass
attempt in Rome in Octo
The South African g
that controlled BOSS is n
power, and the new gov
trying to solve the Smit
The new government's
the Cuban nationals.
These lawyers say that the CIA
was not required to give them any
information not directly related to
the I,cteli er bombing.
Ricardo-Canete; a protected wit
ness in the Letelier bombing, told
the Sunday News Journal that Vir-
gilio Pablo Paz and Dionisio Suarez;-
the fugitives wanted in the Letelier
killing, had been using
counterfeit money and South Afri-
can gold Krugerrands to. live on,
? while at large.
Testifying under the name of ,
Carlos Casado,' Canete gave that:'
information in secret to a grand
jury in March 1978, but did not
repeat it at the public trial.
The convicted Cubans defended
themselves by claiming that the,
any links and would not discuss the Letelier-, loffit killings were a CIA-
matter further on the telephone. operation from the beginning. The
Informed by the Sunday News Justice Department has insisted the
Journal of the hit team's operations,: murders were plotted by agents of
a member of the Senate Select Com 'the Chilean government.
mittee on Intelligence,: charged -The CIA started. working closely ` i
with CIA oversight, said last week.' 'in '1960 with anti-Castro Cubans
.This may have been an.attempt by. 'training them in Miami and Guate-.?
the CIA to-get around.. the prohib-,; ?mala before the Bay of Pigs inva
ition. on assassinations. -.The idea.. sion. The CIA also played a large
that they. turned In - intelligence role in the overthrow of the Marxist
sources who had been on their pay Allende government in Chile in..
roll is outrageous." -:a
:
.
'
.
.
1973.
search for the missing Letelier murder suspects:: The prohibition on assassinations
"WwY have professional killers, trained by one of our came. in a presidential. executive FBI' and Justice Department.
own government agencies; on*the loose,"; said one FBI order after a 4975 Senate.probe. sources ' said the relationship,.,
,.agentfamiliarwith the case
between the CIA, DINA and the
i s revealed CIA involvement . in
The known..victims of-the hit team include . Former. attempts on the lives of ' foreign Cubans explains why the CIA was.
Chilean Gen.. Carlos Prats and his wife, Cora, killed in :leaders. y::; ? reluctant to help track down Paz
:an October 1974 bombing in Buenos`~Aires~- Chilean and Suarez, the two Cubans who-1
.: , , . ?; ? ; j r:
Minister of Defense Oscar Bonillo;:blown up with five remain at large
.other people;,in a helicopter in. Chile;in=.March''1975.;.
- Ronni Kapen Moffitand.Orlando Letelier; who' died in
the-September 1976-Washinetont car bombine~and
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680054-3
the Washington assassinations and is looking into how
their: flight was financed and how-they are linked to
Omega-l=and ZERO,'two-.Cuban Nationalist Movement
groups claiming credit for a number of terrorist acts,:
including one of the assassination attempts.;
:--Justice-Department.and_ FBI-of ficials.sayiprivately
they.are incensed by the lack of.cooperation from. the
not inform them that Cuban Nationalists-were receiv-
ing arms, money or false passports even after the hit
team killed Chilean exile Letelier and an American in a.
-1976 :Washington; D.C., car bombing '
The FBI has been hunting two CubanNationalists for
FBI and Justice Department officials say.theCIA did said he had no information about
? involved - in . at least a . dozen. murders since- 1974, investigation has- expan
was recruited with Central Intelligence Agency help seas because i - "may'i
for the - secret police of. South .Africa and. Chile,. a international plot." Le Ge
Sunday News Journal investigation has discovered- last week that he has two
The victims include'Chilean exile leader: Orlando tors.in London exploring
Letelier and a high -ranking South African official who national connection."
uncovered a majorgovernment scandal Spencer. told the -Sun
South Africa's Bureau for State Security (BOSS) and. Journal that BOSS "had a .. , .Y, way
its Chilean counterpart, called DINA, began hiring relationship with DINA and would
CIA-trained anti-Castro fanatics in .1973. to carry out, exchange favors."- Spencer said
.contract killings. BOSS was disbanded last year and
Sunday News Journal reporters followed a chain of reorganized as a -less powerful
-evidence that included weapons, gold coins, and pass-: National Intelligence Service.
ports and other documents that linked the contract hit' "I can only tell you that many of
team with South Africa's and Chile's secret police= the former BOSS officials have gone~
The News Journal investigation included interviews underground. The murder of the
with secret government witnesses now in hiding under Smits has not been solved. Our gov-
false identities, with current and former South African ernment has no idea of who did it,"
and Chilean intelligence agents and with present and Spencer said.
former officials of the' CIA, the Justice and State CIA spokesman Dale Peterson
.Departments.-:: said that he could not discuss details
These sources say the CIA helped form the hit team ? of the relationship between the CIA
by arranging introductions for operatives of BOSS and and other governments. "Sources
DINA to leaders of the Cuban nationalist movement in ' and methods are something we just
Miami and Union City, N.J. In return; DINA killed at can't talk about, and that's what you
least 17 agents of the Cuban Intelligence Service and are getting into." -
BOSS provided information about Communist activi- Juan Prado, press attache at the
ties in Africa. Chilean embassy in Washington,
WILMINGTON SUNDAY NEWS JOURNAL
24 February 1980
Cop 'right 1980, The News-Journal Compauy
By JOE TRENTO `
1 in New York, Michael Spi
"It is politically imperat
country to solve this case
Louis Le Gerange, Sou
minister of police, said.