SPY NET SEEN SHIELDING CHILEAN'S KILLERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100020092-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 5, 2007
• Sequence Number: 92
• Publication Date: November 13, 1976
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

xppF RED Approved For Release 2007/07/06: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100020092-1
ONY P. GE__ 13 NOVEMBER 1916
sBYNORSIAN KEi4iPSTEIt 'Two possible Theories-both stlllj? for Policy Studies since he was red;
3- , rmes Staff writer = unproved-have emerged. One is that leased from prison o
lier was
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ore
:(Letelier was killed by agents of tl'e Only 11 days be
;~JASHlNGTO =Against the
background of a busy`atrline terminal, present. 'government of Chile. The killed, the Pinochet government pub ?'
the."scepe was played out in a matter other is that he was: murdered =lisped an official. decree revoking the
of seconds.,A young ;voman:wlio.had right-wing Cuban terrorists 1.?Chilean citizenship of the former ca
just landed at- ohn F: Kennedy air- So far, there have been no arrests binet minister for allegedly conduct.
port in Newv.York .vas approached by .-: Although the FBI has'been reluc-;I mg a publicity campaign to obtain 1
a stranger ant to discuss the case, it is under Chile:'olitical and cultural isolation of!
'Tell your boyfriend to stay, away stood that U.S. officials were'shakeri
.frbiri, the- Leteher -case or somebody by the murder, which seemed to have. The decree specifically blamed Le
ill , get hurt, the man; said, then been planned as a deliberate insult to telier for persuading the government;'
< the United States. of the Netherlands to withdraw a $6V
melted into the crowd
h
d
.
a
t ';,The:--woman ~.vas l'nefiarcee of and :The 44-year-old former diplomat =million development credit Chile
i
ng.
FBI a agent assigned to investigate the :was killed when a char e of C-4 plas- been seek
g t e a The controlled press in, Chile also:l
critical of Letelier before
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y
arp
killed: was s
of h
s auto.. Alo
ards
government floorb
mini
ter inthe- depos d
. -his assassination. But' the. Pinochet.,
=of Dtarmt:.. President: SalvadorP Al- . was a U.S. citizen, Ronnie K:?Pdoffitt,
deride' of -Chile.. Letelier was killed `25, a colleague of Letelier's at the In--,, government denied that it was tmpl :
cated in the killing, which it called an
?
Sept: 21 when a bomb exploded in his stitute for Policy, Studies,a left=lean automobile'on Washington's "Embas ing Washington "think- tank.".. Ivir$, c atrocio~ s act of terrorism t
The clay after Letelier was. ki led, was also' Sy. he threat '.old the FBI a great'deal in the car butba as,nottser seriously hurt two Santiago newspapers suggested
in editorials that the assassination
Gout the killers Chef were seek eg 't Letelier was driving along Massa
L~l
would be used to rekindle an interns
Leteher was murdered by members ! cnusetts Ave near.: the most~,finpor tional camps gn':-of . hatred . against
o a rou so histieated enou h. to Cant embassies in the capital when ! -.1
fi P A n i the bomb ex loded Chit le..
'find out the name of an FBI agent as US officials discourage speculation
`signed to.the case, to.place him under';If the killers had wanted to se?t1e a that the Pinochet government played
.surveillance, to'determine the. identi- score with Letelier without embar a part in the murder.
The tient pl yed '
ty -of, his- fiancee, to learn her. travel. rasing the `United' States, . so the
Tans and to pick her out of a crowd -t`heor y PosL(tuoted informed sources earlier
y goes,the could have used a f
p p this month assaying that CIS Direc 1
In short, an organization wit? an of-; .deans which would not have enda'h e
aered two Americans and they could tor George.Bush believes it would;,
-1
tf etive intelligence apparaLus. _ have been counterproductive for
the:
.
. That doesn't prove,who killed Leave picked a less sensitive location
,
telier, of.course: But it could rule out Letelier served as foreign minister. 'Junta to have committed such a crime :
-most nonpolitical motives. The killer ! gorims defense minister in the Allende LeteIier's colleagues at the institute apparently was not an individual. with vcrnrnent. He also was ambassador said that less than two weeks before
'`a personal grudge , ro'Wasbington Before his death, Le he died, he told them he had received;
her,was an enem of the militar a letter from a source in Chile report
The - FBI has assigned agents toy y y ?
wvork full `finis. on the case in 1Vash _: Zama of -President Augusto Pinochet '=ing that the junta had debated whetii
r
d er or not he should be killed::: i
vtlch ; overthrew All
d
'
l
t
en
e
s e
ec
e
ington New York,',iiami and erlia s
p p government on Sept. 11, 197 According to the letter, Leteher
"other with; according to sources fa- Letelier was arrested by.the' junta `said, a moderate faction opposed to
milfar with the investigation ti' day,the Allende government was l his assassination won the debate over
"This is a big'case, like abig kid= o' erthrown.':In an. interview v")witn those who contended that he should !
naping," one source said "There area playboy death, magazine Letelier made that public he wasafter I be eliminated.`
lot of people -working, on ii t One associate said:Letelter.earried
-1Sten from his cell by a firing CIA ahso is understood to be fa g squad the letter ',}vith him at all times to.
t1?riiC Ka4xnv iri'fhainvaciigatinn L..a ~_------ -----
._ 1 '
rotect the name of the pees on vho
p
s
endi
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---
,
rater
p
ng one )cat
-
i Chilean prison, he was permitted was not'with.Leteliers'effects after.
de;
`the bombing.' It could have: been
W-1tave the country.He.had been a
ed in the blast or, it could have.
.member of. the staff of the Institu?; ..stroy -
been impounded as possible evidence ,,
-k:bypolice or-the FBI.::'-??;.; :.--;a '
.--The FBI is understood to be active=
`1y' investigating 'the possibility..that:1
:right-wing Cuban exiles may have:''
been involved. In recent years,-exile
'groups-including .veterans of `.the71
Bay of Pigs invasion and of the Ch1
.barked .. Pf fnrt to assassinate ": Cuban_~
canfinu
STAT
Approved For Release 2007/07/06: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100020092-1