COURT SESSION REPORTEDLY TOLD CHILEAN OFFICIAL IS CIA AGENT

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030084-0
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
August 5, 2011
Sequence Number: 
84
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
November 14, 1978
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030084-0.pdf63.92 KB
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Approved For Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207RO01000030084-0 Court Session Reportedly Told Chilean Official Is CIA Agent By Ronald J. Ostrow Los Angeles Times A secret court session has been told of "information" that Hernan Cubil? los, Chile's foreign minister, has been a "principal" Central Intelligence Agency operative, the Los Angeles Times learned yesterday. Patrick M. Wall, defense lawyer for Robert . Berrellez, an International Telephone and Telegraph Corp. offi? clal, cited the information in a closed court hearing Oct. 23, informed soure. es said. Wall considered the subject so sen? sitive that he turned over his copy of the sealed court record to John T. Kotelly, a Justice Department prose cutor, saying he did not want disclos- ure blamed on him. Berrellez has been charged with con- spiracy, perjury and obstructing gov- ernmental proceedings as a result of testimony he gave in 1973 to a Sen- ate Foreign Relations subcommittee investigating ITT-CIA attempts to block the 1970 election of Salvador Allende as president of Chile. Sources said Wall told the court he had "seen" Information on Cubillos' covert role, but did not have physical access to it. The lawyer was seeking government documents to bolster Ber- rellez' defense that he is being prose. cuted for acts he contends he was in- duced to do by CIA representatives, including Cubillos. Wall's New York office said yester- day that he was traveling and could not be reached for comment. Cubillos and the CIA. For sure, I can say it's a lie." A CIA spokesman would not com- ment on grounds the case is still pend. ing. U.S. District Court Judge Aubrey Robinson Jr. dismissed the jury in the Bart'ellez case last month rather than aocept the Justice Department's spe- cial procedure for protecting sensitive information in the case. The Justice Department urged the U.& Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last Thursday to direct Robinson to accept the proce- dures under which prosecutors could challenge 'the relevancy of defense material before it is presented in open court. Assistant Attorney General Philip B. Heymann had indicated to re- porters that the government's chief concern in the case was over reveal. ing CIA station locations. But, with- out confirming Cubillos' CIA tie, he said yesterday that his earlier state. ment was merely "illustrative" of the problems surrounding the case. "With regard to any people or any places, I just can't tell you anything," Heymann said. Cubillos had been mentioned in the criminal information that the Justice Department filed against Berrellez, but prosecutors dropped references to him without explanation on the day the trial was to begin. Cubillos, 42, was named foreign minister, last April 2d, although his only previous government service had beep as a Chilean naval officer . , Juan Prado, press officer for the Before dismussing the Berrellez' Chilean Embassy in Washington}, said jury., Judge Robinson said of the gov- the information sounded "impossible" ernment's secrecy proposals: "1 just to him. "It's the first time in my life some there is one name that If It pops I have heard something about Mr. ' up ebtild blow... I don't know what." Approved For Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207RO01000030084-0