CHILE PAID CUBAN EXILES $1 MILLION TO MURDER LETELIER, MAGAZINE SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R002000090060-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 4, 2004
• Sequence Number: 60
• Publication Date: March 9, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release aQ124/1ft12N0MA'PR0P911 1066IkOO2000090060-5
ARTICLE APPEt%R"D 9 March 1978
ON PACE
Chile Paid Cuban Exiles
$1 Million to Murder
Letelier, Magazine Says
NEW YORK (UPI) - Chilean exile leader
Orlando Letelier, slain in a Sept. 21, 1976, car
bombing on Washington's embassy row, was mur-
dered by Cuban exiles in exchange for Chilean
financial support for the exiles' war against Fidel
Castro, Penthouse magazine reported today.
It said Chile paid $1 million to the group, which
included veterans of the unsuccessful "Bay of
Pigs" attempt to invade Cuba. Letelier had served
as Chile's ambassador to Washington under the
late Salvador Allende and was a prominent critic
of the military junta which overthrew and re-
placed the Marxist president.
The plot was hatched at a meeting between
Cuban exile leaders and Chilean secret police in
Coral Gables, Fla., on June 29, 1976, said the arti-
cle written by Ernie Volkman and John Cum-
mings.
Release of the article, originally scheduled for
July, followed a State Department request to Chile
to produce two persons sought for questioning.
"The Cubans agreed to murder Letelier in ex-
change for financial and other support from Chile
for their private war against Fidel Castro," the
magazine said.
"Cubans worked up a plan for planting a bomb
in Letelier's car. The plan was- approved at the
highest levels of the Chilean government and
DINA (Chilean secret police) officials participated
directly in all phases of the murder plot.
The magazine said the Cubans were trained by
the CIA as an "elite assassination squad." .i
Approved For Release 2004/10/12 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R002000090060-5